The Federal Supreme Court (BGH) ruled in two cases (AZ VIII ZR 163/18 and VIII ZR 270/18) on legal disputes between landlord and tenant. Both cases dealt with the question of who has to pay for the costs of cosmetic repairs. Both rental apartments were handed over to the tenants in an unrenovated condition. Since 2002 and 1992, no cosmetic repairs have been carried out. The tenants of both apartments are now demanding that their landlords carry out the painting and wallpapering work that, in their opinion, was long overdue and pay the costs incurred.
In both cases, the BGH ruled that landlords and tenants must share the costs for cosmetic repairs. The background to the disputes is based on the fact that in some leases, work for cosmetic repairs is transferred from the landlords to the tenants. This was also the case in the present cases. However, the balancing of the cosmetic repairs is not legally valid; this was already decided by the BGH in 2015. Because tenants would accordingly put the apartment in a better condition than they received it when they took it over. This is not legally their responsibility. A landlord is subject to the renovation obligation or the maintenance obligation in the event of ineffectiveness.
In the cases at hand, however, the landlords also refuse to pay for the costs, because in their opinion the tenants would conversely receive an apartment that would be in a much better condition than it was when they took it over at the beginning of the lease. According to the ruling of the Federal Court of Justice, the tenants have no right to this either. Provided that the condition of the apartment has deteriorated significantly, which can be assumed due to the long rental period, tenants are generally entitled to the assumption of renovation work. However, only in the same condition as when the apartment was taken over. Since a specialist company would significantly upgrade the apartment through renovation work, tenants must also contribute to the costs - usually 50 percent.
Source: BGH
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