Cologne Local Court, 11.02.2016, Ref.: 203 C 466/15
Not only the landlord, but also the tenant can terminate the tenancy without notice. In accordance with Section 543 (2) sentence 1 no. 1, the tenant may terminate without notice if the contractual use of the rented property is not granted or withdrawn in full or in part in good time.
This is the case, for example, if the flat is infested with vermin to a considerable extent, if official permission is not granted so that the tenant cannot use the commercial premises, or if a neighbouring major construction site causes considerable nuisance for a very long period of time.
However, it should be noted that in the vast majority of cases, the landlord must be duly warned by the tenant before termination without notice and requested to remedy the disruption to use.
In the case discussed here, the Cologne Local Court had to decide on the termination without notice of tenants who had not given the landlord a single warning prior to the termination.
Facts of the legal dispute: Claim for rent arrears
In this legal dispute, the landlord, the plaintiff, demanded that the tenants, the defendants, pay rent arrears of EUR 880.00 for the months of May to August 2015 in accordance with Section 535 (2) BGB.
The rental agreement between the parties was concluded on 3 November 2014. Sections 8 and 9 of the rental agreement stipulated that the plaintiff could enter the rented room for a specific, non-recurring date and use it for his back training. It was also agreed that the room would be available exclusively to the defendants from 1 March 2015. Until then, a co-tenant was still allowed to use the room twice a week.
Incident with the door lock and termination without notice
In January 2015, the plaintiff replaced the door lock to the building, but failed to hand over the new key to the defendant in good time. As a result, defendant 1 was left standing in front of a locked door. Without warning the plaintiff, the defendants then terminated the tenancy without notice and moved out of the property.
However, the plaintiff was of the opinion that the tenancy had not been terminated by the termination without notice and demanded the rent for the months of May to August 2015.
Decision of the Local Court of Cologne
The Cologne District Court followed the plaintiff's argument and ruled that the tenancy had not been terminated by the termination without notice on 27 April 2015. According to Sections 543 (1), 2 No. 1 BGB, the tenant can terminate the tenancy if, taking into account the circumstances, he cannot reasonably be expected to continue the tenancy. This applies in particular if the tenant is deprived of the contractual use of the rented property.
Warning as a prerequisite for termination without notice
However, according to Section 543 (3) sentence 1 BGB, termination without notice requires that the tenant has given the landlord a reasonable period of time to remedy the situation or has warned the landlord. Such a warning must specifically name the defect and make it clear that cooperation is jeopardised if the defect is not remedied. However, the defendants had not warned the plaintiff, meaning that the termination without notice was invalid and the tenancy continued.
Source: Cologne Local Court
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