Mice in the rented apartment

The landlord must guarantee you the "contractual use" of your rented apartment. If mice appear, this affects your living comfort and thus the contractual use. Your rights are determined by the circumstances of your occurrence.

Occasional mice are part of everyday life

• A single mouse is part of your overall life risk. The landlord cannot do anything about that. Your apartment is not a quarantine station. Usually the mouse disappears quickly. You can be expected to accept this fact as natural.
• If mice appear continuously and in large numbers, the limit of reasonableness will of course be exceeded at some point. When this is the case has to be decided on a case-by-case basis. The objective circumstances are decisive. Your subjective feeling towards mice is not relevant.

Find the causes yourself

• First of all, you should be careful to take the initiative. If the mice get inside through the open balcony door of your ground floor apartment, you have to keep the doors closed, especially at night.
• Do not leave food lying around openly. They attract vermin. Place poison baits where mice feel comfortable. Set up mouse traps. Or get yourself a cat.


Bathroom and toilet cannot be used - enforce rent reduction

If neither your bathroom nor your toilet can be used in a rented apartment, then you should ...

Rent reduction of your rented apartment must be reasonable

• If the mice are not deterred and if you have exceeded your limits of reasonableness, you must first ask the landlord to rectify the problem. The landlord must have the chance to take action himself (e.g. B. Commissioning an exterminator, interpretation of poison baits). You have a legal right to removal. The landlord bears the costs.
• If the landlord does not act or if he does not succeed in eliminating the problem, you are entitled to a reduction in price. You are then allowed to rent reduce appropriately. The reduction rate is determined by the circumstances. You can also do self-help and bill the landlord for the costs.
• If you live in the country, mice are more common than in a city apartment. Mice are more likely on the ground floor than on the top floor. Basements are also a retreat for mice. A whole colony of mice has a different effect than a single mouse. If mice leave their excrement under your living room cupboard or if they starve, perish and rot, the impairments are greater than if a mouse occasionally passes through you living room scurries. Mice in rented apartments are only legally significant if they are a nuisance to mice.
• In one case of the AG Brandenburg (reference: WuM 2001, 605), a 100% rent reduction was awarded due to a significant mouse infestation in a city apartment. The tenant claimed that she could count up to 10 mice in her living room. The AG Bonn (WuM 1986, 113) granted a 10% reduction because of mice and cockroaches in the apartment. A general determination of the reduction rate is not possible. A lot of things appear to be very subjective and dependent on circumstances, especially when it comes to the right to abatement.

Remember that not every impairment should be a reason to start a legal dispute with the landlord. Problems have to be solved. They cannot necessarily be eliminated legally. Find the cause of the problem yourself and find constructive solutions yourself, if possible.