Berlin Regional Court, 19 July 2016, 18 S 330/15
In principle, the tenant must have been warned by the landlord in the event of breaches of contract prior to termination in accordance with Section 543 (3) BGB, otherwise the termination is not effective. This is intended to give the tenant the opportunity to change their behaviour in the long term before termination. The law allows exceptions to this rule in the case of particularly serious offences by the tenant.
If a tenant taps into an electricity line and uses energy in this way without paying for it, there are some people who consider a warning to be unnecessary, while others still consider a warning to be necessary. In principle, however, it always depends on the individual case.
Facts of the Case:
Landlord does not take care of power failure in the tenant's flat
In the case discussed here, there was a power cut in the flat of the defendant (tenant) in a rented flat in August 2014. The defendant contacted the plaintiff (landlord) and repeatedly asked her to take care of restoring the power supply. Despite this repeated request, the plaintiff did not fulfil its obligation to remedy the defect.
Finally, it emerged that the plaintiff did not remedy the defect because the defendant had not yet paid an electrician's invoice from 2014. The plaintiff then made the restoration of the power supply dependent on the payment of the invoice.
Tenant had not paid an electrician's bill - tenant takes electricity from stairwell
The defendant, in turn, refused to pay the bill as he considered it unjustified and decided to withdraw electricity from the stairwell. When the plaintiff realised this, she terminated the defendant's contract.
Judgement of the Berlin Regional Court:
Cologne Regional Court considers landlord's cancellation due to electricity withdrawal to be invalid
The regional court now ruled against the plaintiff and decided that it should not have cancelled the defendant's contract. The defendant had not withdrawn his electricity secretly or for the purpose of enrichment. In addition, the use of the sockets in the stairwell was not generally prohibited. Rather, the plaintiff as landlord was obliged to allow the defendant, i.e. the tenant of its rental property, to use the stairwell for a temporary emergency power supply in return for bearing the costs incurred in accordance with Section 535 (1) sentence 2 BGB. Consequently, the cancellation was not justified.
Nevertheless, the electricity withdrawal was not permitted - tenant should have sought legal assistance
Furthermore, the regional court ruled that the unauthorised removal of electricity from the stairwell was not justified by the right to self-help under Section 229 BGB. This was because the defendant had been able to claim urgent legal protection from the courts in order to enforce his right to restore the power supply. However, the court considered this accusation against the defendant to be only minor.
Source: Berlin Regional Court
Important Note: The content of this article has been prepared to the best of our knowledge and belief. However, due to the complexity and constant evolution of the subject matter, we must exclude liability and warranty. Important Notice: The content of this article has been created to the best of our knowledge and understanding. However, due to the complexity and constant changes in the subject matter, we must exclude any liability and warranty.
If you need legal advice, please feel free to call us at 0221 - 80187670 or send us an email at or send an email to info@mth-partner.de info@mth-partner.de
Lawyers in Cologne provide advice and representation in tenancy law.