Video recordings made in the stairwell without the tenants' knowledge may not be used as evidence in court proceedings. This is a clear violation of data protection and the tenants' personal rights. This was recently decided by the Federal Court of Justice (case reference: VI ZR 1370/20).
In this case, a Berlin housing company had commissioned a private investigator to install video cameras and to secretly monitor the tenants on site. The Berlin housing company assumed that unauthorized subletting was taking place, obtained evidence of this through the private detective, issued a warning to the tenants and, in the alternative, gave them notice to quit and demanded that they vacate the apartment.
The tenants refused to vacate the apartment. They also demanded monetary compensation because of the video recordings. The case therefore ended up before the local court, the regional court and finally the BGH. The court ruled as follows: Despite seemingly clear evidence, the tenants do not have to vacate their apartments. The reason for this is that the BGH is not allowed to use the illegally obtained evidence. However, in this particular case, the tenants are also not entitled to monetary compensation.
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