A gas heater for an apartment represents a one-time need for which the job center must pay. This was the decision of the Regional Social Court (LSG) Essen (L 19 AS 1736/21). In the case in question, a tenant had filed a lawsuit because the gas heater in her apartment had broken down after almost 50 years. However, the rental agreement with the landlady stipulated that the rental object did not include the radiators.
The tenant received unemployment benefit II, bought a new gas heater for around 1,800 euros and had it installed. She demanded the money for this back from the job center. This led to a dispute about whether or not the job center had to pay the costs. The dispute initially ended up before the Cologne Social Court, which dismissed the claim.
However, the LSG upheld the tenant's (plaintiff's) appeal and came to the conclusion that the Jobcenter had to bear the costs. The reasons for this were that it had been stipulated in the rental agreement that the landlady was not responsible for replacing the radiators, that the purchase of a gas heater was necessary for the usability of the apartment, and that the LSG also found the amount for the gas heater to be reasonable.
Source: lsg.nrw.de/(L 19 AS 1736/21)
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