The lessor of a listed manor house does not have to protect the interests of the lessee in the pre-contractual clarification and relieve him of the contractual risk. Instead, the tenant must examine and decide for himself whether the contract is advantageous for him or not. This is the conclusion reached by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (OLG).
In this case, the state of Hesse leased a former manor house in which tenants opened a restaurant in 2014. The leaseholders undertook the renovation work on the first floor and the fitting out of the kitchen at their own expense, but charged the state for their own work. They did not make any lease payments. The state terminated the lease agreement in January 2019 due to the arrears in payment and filed a lawsuit with the Darmstadt Regional Court to evict the manor house and - taking into account a corresponding reduction - for the outstanding rent of 68,500 euros.
The tenants were not prepared to accept this and in turn sued the state for damages for breach of pre-contractual obligations. They had been fraudulently misled about the condition of the manor house. In the end, the case ended up at the OLG, which ruled in favor of the state. On the one hand, a tenant must obtain comprehensive information about the contract himself. On the other hand, the information provided by the state about the state of renovation of the manor house was not false in breach of duty.
Source: OLG Frankfurt am Main, judgment of 6.4.2022, Ref. 12 U 323/ordentliche-gerichtsbarkeit.hessen.de
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