In the event of a pipe break, rent reduction?
Tenants and landlords can argue eagerly with each other. A popular topic is when and to what extent a rent reduction is possible. In the event of a pipe burst with water damage, for example, living can be affected in very different ways.
A burst pipe can be significant water- respectively. Damage caused by moisture. Is the rental property in your by the rental contract impaired specific use, the tenant is entitled to the rent to reduce.
Reduce the rent in the event of a pipe break or water damage
According to ยง 536 para. 1 sentence 2 BGB, the tenant only needs to pay a correspondingly reduced rent if the usability of the rented property is impaired by a defect. Accordingly, you do not need the consent of the landlord if you want to reduce the rent. Rather, by law, the landlord's entitlement to rent is automatically reduced.
- In most cases, the difficulty lies in determining the amount of the rent reduction. If you can come to an agreement with the landlord here, this can help avoid a legal dispute.
- How much the rent reduction will be in the event of a pipe burst and water damage depends mainly depends on which impairments this affects the use of the apartment or House surrendered. Of course, it makes a difference whether im bathroom only a few tiles need to be replaced, or whether drying devices need to be installed in the entire apartment over a longer period of time.
Correctly assess the amount of rent reduction
As a tenant, you can fall into arrears with rent payments if you reduce the rent by an inadmissible amount. Since the courts only ever deal with a specific individual case, their judgments can be made in relation to Rent reductions give indications, but not necessarily transferred one-to-one to another case will.
If the temperatures drop well below zero in winter, it can happen that ...
- The Regional Court of Cologne, for example, considered an 80% reduction in rent to be justified in one case in which the affected tenant of a one-room apartment was forced to pay all furniture move away from the wall and allow two drying devices to be set up (LG Cologne, verdict dated March 29, 2012, Az. 1 S 176/11).
- However, if the living situation is different and the impairment is less severe, the permissible amount of the reduction can be much lower. It can therefore not hurt if you contact the local tenants' association or, if necessary, in the event of an emergency Inquire with a lawyer to what extent a rent reduction is to be considered justified in the specific case is.
A burst pipe can cause considerable damage. As a tenant who is usually not to blame for this, you are entitled to a reduction in the rent in such a case.
