Unit details

Unit details

Unit status

For renovated units, the tenant may be required to carry out cosmetic repairs under certain conditions. For unrenovated units, the landlord may release himself from his own obligation to carry out these repairs, but he cannot easily transfer them to the tenant.

• An apartment is considered renovated if it overall makes a neat and tidy impression. Slight signs of wear are not taken into account as long as the overall impression appears to be renovated from the perspective of an objective observer.

If you are unsure about the condition of the unit, select the “unrefurbished” option. In this case, the tenant cannot be obliged to carry out cosmetic repairs, but you as the landlord are not obliged to pay for these in the event of a dispute.

These are cosmetic repairs

Cosmetic repairs are repair work to restore the external appearance of the rental rooms. These include, among others:

• Painting or whitewashing walls and ceilings

• Wallpaper

• Closing dowel holes

• Painting floors

• Painting or varnishing radiators, pipes, interior doors, windows and the inside of exterior doors

The aim is to restore the original visual condition of the rental property.

Legal background on cosmetic repairs

Basically, the maintenance of the rental property is the responsibility of the landlord in accordance with Section 535 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 BGB. However, as part of a tenancy agreement, cosmetic repairs can be effectively transferred to the tenant under certain conditions.

• For renovated units, the tenant may be required to carry out cosmetic repairs to a certain extent and under certain conditions.

• For unrenovated units, the landlord can only release himself from the obligation to carry out cosmetic repairs, but cannot necessarily transfer these to the tenant. However, the prerequisite is that the landlord has formulated the relevant clause in the tenancy agreement in a legally secure manner. In the Immodio tenancy agreement generator we therefore query the condition of the apartment in the basic data of the unit. If such a clause is missing in tenancy agreements, the landlord must have the work carried out at his own expense or reimburse the tenant for the costs of the cosmetic repairs.

Tip: To easily preserve evidence, we recommend using Immodio's digital handover protocol. Photos of the condition of the rental property can also be stored there. In this way, landlords avoid possible disputes about the original condition of the apartment.