MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR LIVING IN ACCORDANCE

 

• Does a telephone or television connection have to be available?
• Or are you allowed to rent out apartments without such facilities?

The answers to these questions depend primarily on the agreements made in the rental agreement.

But the age of the building, the rent and local living habits also play a role.

In most cases, rental contracts do not contain any special agreements on furnishing the rented rooms. Only "rental as an apartment" or "for residential purposes" is given, combined with a list of the individual rooms: room, kitchen, bathroom, and toilet.

If rooms are rented out as apartments, the tenant can expect that they are suitable for living and enable contemporary use. But what does that mean in concrete terms?

The individual federal states' building regulations and housing supervision laws contain minimum requirements for healthy living conditions. If you rent out rooms that do not meet these requirements, the responsible housing authority could oblige you to retrofit them or even declare the rooms uninhabitable.

But even with old, inexpensive apartments, there is a lot more to contracted living:

• The walls must be plastered or covered, wallpapered or painted.
• A heating facility does not need to be available in all rooms in old buildings.
• If the apartment is equipped with central heating, it must be designed so that a minimum temperature of 20 ° C is reached between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., even in the coldest winter.

The power supply must at least guarantee the electrical lighting and the operation of the usual household appliances. Still, the tenant cannot demand the same standard in old-style apartments as in a new-build apartment.

• The power supply in new buildings must be such that the stove, refrigerator/freezer and washing machine can be operated simultaneously.
• The bell or door handle system must be available/functional.
• Kitchen, bathroom, toilet: this is how they are equipped following the contract

For a kitchen, a cold water connection and a sink must be available in the corresponding room. In addition, it must be technically possible to connect a stove. In a new apartment, running hot water is also standard.

A bathroom must be equipped with a sink and a shower or bathtub. Hot water is standard. A toilet does not have to be in the bathroom, and it can also be in a separate room within the apartment. You do not need to provide your tenant with shower screens, mirrors, shelves and other furnishings.

 

Telephone, television and radio reception: common in new homes

A telephone connection and the possibility of TV and radio reception are standard equipment in new apartments and can be expected here by the tenant without any special agreement. However, this is not the case in older apartments. If the tenant has rented an apartment without these connections, he cannot later demand that you bring the apartment up to date and finance the connections.

You can agree on deviations from the usual standard.

You can also rent an apartment if it does not meet all of the above equipment criteria and does not meet the usual standard of a comparable apartment so that your tenant cannot claim any defects. It is important that you specifically name the deviations from the usual standard and expressly agree that they follow the contract.

Sample formulation:

"The apartment is rented without a sink. The tenant brings his fitted kitchen. "

It is even permissible to expressly rent an apartment in a condition in need of renovation and to oblige the tenant to create a condition suitable for living at his own expense. In such a case, however, determine exactly which work must be carried out by the tenant.

Sample formulation:

"The apartment will be handed over to the tenant in a condition in need of renovation. The tenant re-plastered the room to the left of the apartment door. He removes the wallpaper on the walls and ceilings in all rooms and puts on new woodchip wallpaper. The work will be carried out professionally by the tenant. The landlord will provide the necessary material. The tenant carries out the subsequent painting of the rooms at his own expense."

The following requirements for apartments and living spaces are specified, for example, in the luxury apartments in Lahore Supervision Act:

• Electric lighting, a stove and heating can be connected inside the apartment.
• The water supply, sink and toilet are available and functional.
• Thermal insulation and adequate soundproofing appropriate to the climatic conditions are guaranteed.
• The lounges are at least 2 m high.
• At least one living room in the rented apartment has a minimum size of 9 m².
• Walls, ceilings and floors must not be permanently damp or infested with a sponge or animal pests.
• Sufficient daylight and air supply must be ensured.