If landlords modernize a rented apartment, they must make the costs transparent. However, a breakdown of the individual items is not required, as the Federal Court of Justice recently ruled (VIII ZR 337/21, VIII ZR 339/21 and VIII ZR 361/21). In the cases at hand, modernization measures had been implemented by landlords in Bremen and had resulted in a rent increase for the tenants.
They were informed of the rent increase in a letter that included an annex on the "Summary of costs and calculation of the rent increase". Among other things, the document contained information on the total costs of the individual modernization measures, the apportionable modernization cost component and the calculation of the rent increase. The tenants considered the rent increase to be invalid for formal reasons and demanded a refund of part of the rent already paid.
The BGH does not consider it necessary to break down the cost items so that the tenants can understand the exact items for the rent increase - as the previous instances thought -. In this regard, the BGH states: "[...] The hurdles for the rent increase declaration in formal terms [must not] be set too high. Because an overstressing of the requirements could lead to the fact that the landlord could not enforce a substantively justified rent increase." The incentive to carry out modernization measures - expressly desired by the legislator - would otherwise be taken away.
Source: VIII ZR 337/21, VIII ZR 339/21/VIII ZR 361/21/bundesgerichtshof.de
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