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Court: Dispute over smoke detectors 

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...

Ruling: Residents must accept truck passage in low emission zone 

In Stuttgart, residents living in an environmental and truck transit ban zone must continue to accept the passage of trucks. This has now been decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH; VI ZR 110/21). The residents had sued for injunctive relief because a haulage company "violated the ban on through traffic several times a day" and they assumed that the passage of trucks posed a health hazard. Even before the...

Ruling: Basic security for property owners 

Are property owners entitled to Harzt IV benefits? This depends on the size of the property and the number of residents, as the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) has now ruled (1 BvL 12/20). This is because "funds of the general public that are intended to help its needy members can only be used in cases of actual need", according to the...

Ruling: OLG strengthens rights of building owners 

Building owners are not obliged to provide building contractors with so-called building contractor insurance. This was recently decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Zweibrücken (Ref. 2 O 315/19). In the case in question, a dispute arose between a married couple of builders and a trades company regarding the quality of the construction services provided. The client couple refused...

E-parking: consideration must be shown during construction 

Property owners must also comply with the consideration requirement in building law if they want to build parking spaces for electric vehicles (VG 13 K 184/19). This was recently decided by the administrative court in Berlin. In this case, the owner of a property in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg wanted to build five parking spaces with two electrical connections. On the property there are...

Wastewater: charges in NRW too high 

A ruling by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) on the calculation of wastewater charges in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick now has consequences for the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia. In this case, a property owner had filed a complaint against a wastewater assessment notice for 2017. According to this, he was supposed to pay around 600 euros in wastewater charges. The OVG came to the conclusion that the wastewater notice was unlawful and also...

Property tax reform: property owners must submit a declaration of assessment 

Property owners must submit a declaration of assessment between Friday, July 1, 2022, and Monday, October 31, 2022. The reason for this is the property tax reform, which comes into force on January 1, 2025 and will require around 36 million properties to be revalued. According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, property owners of residential properties must provide their tax office with information on the location of the...

Ruling: Inspections after purchase may not be prevented 

In Munich, two tenants have now been ordered by the local court (AG München; file number 474 C 4123/21) to move out of their apartment and hand it over to the new owners. The tenants had lived in a 60 square meter three-room apartment in Maxvorstadt since 2005. When it was to be sold, they refused to allow interested parties to view it. Nevertheless, buyers were found - including...

Verdict: Termination without notice due to unauthorized subletting 

Tenants who continue to sublet their apartment without permission after a warning must expect termination without notice. This was decided by the Munich Local Court (AZ 417 C 7060/21). In this case, a tenant had been living in an apartment in Munich-Pasing since 2009. The monthly rent was 800 euros per month. The rental agreement contained the following clause: " Subletting or other...

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