A tenant living in a terraced house may not simply drill holes in an exterior wall without asking his neighbor for permission in advance. This is the result of a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) (AZ: V ZR 25/21). In the case in question, the tenant (defendant) had drilled holes in an exterior wall for the installation of a power line for an electric awning.
Initially, the plaintiff, who is also the owner of the apartment building, had requested his tenant by letter from a lawyer to restore the original condition of the exterior wall - but without success. Now the owner took the matter to court. The case then ended up first before the district court and the regional court, and later before the Federal Court of Justice.
The BGH largely confirms the decision of the Munich II Regional Court and justifies it, among other things, as follows: "The defendant is not entitled to an impact on the [...] wall which is in the sole ownership of the plaintiff, so that he is obliged to remove the cable duct and the drill holes according to § 1004 para. 1 sentence 1 BGB." Also decisive for the judgment is the fact that the outer walls are separated by a joint. Thus, the wall shells are clearly to be assigned to the respective building.
Source: BGH (AZ: V ZR 25/21)
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