If a tenant has to carry out decorative repairs according to the tenancy agreement, these do not have to be carried out perfectly. This is the conclusion reached by the Berlin Regional Court (Ref.: 65 S 264/20). In this case, a landlady demanded compensation from a former tenant. She claimed that her repainting of the walls and ceilings had led to a "worsening" of the previously professional paint job.
In this context, the landlady (plaintiff) criticized, among other things, a "shady, non-covering coat of paint on the walls and ceilings in both rooms, in the hallway, in the bathroom and in the kitchen". She therefore demanded a sum of EUR 1,354.03 from her former tenant. Unjustly, as the Berlin Regional Court found.
On the one hand, several witnesses credibly testified that they had carried out the work. Secondly, the "professional execution of cosmetic repairs [...] cannot be equated with execution in the quality of a specialist tradesman". This is because, according to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, tenants are allowed to carry out the cosmetic repairs assigned to them (inexpensively) themselves.
Source: Berlin Regional Court (Ref.: 65 S 264/20)
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