Landlords may not simply pass on the costs of smoke detectors to their tenants via the service charge bill. This is because the costs are not apportionable. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (VIII ZR 379/20). In this case, a landlady installed smoke alarms and commissioned a company to carry out maintenance. She informed her tenant of the expected costs and passed them on to the tenant, pro rata to the living space, in the service charge statement from 2016 under the item "Rent + maintenance of smoke alarms". The tenant sued and was upheld.
Whether a landlord buys or rents the smoke detectors should make no difference according to the BGH. This is because, according to the BGH, "this would ultimately mean that the landlord would be given a simple way [...] to circumvent the burden of acquisition costs that is in principle assigned to him". However, the BGH still leaves landlords with another option to pass on the costs of smoke detectors to their tenants. For example, they have "the option of purchasing the smoke alarms and passing on the costs to the tenant by way of a modernization rent increase".
However, there has not yet been a final decision in the current case. The BGH criticized procedural defects in the appeal ruling, stating that it "does not meet the requirements of a sufficient presentation of the subject matter of the dispute and its factual basis". The case, which concerns a monthly item of around EUR 10 on the service charge bill, must therefore be heard again before the Cologne Regional Court.
Source: BGH/ VIII ZR 379/20
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