Berlin – Deutsche Wohnen has again billed tenants the expenses for renting smoke alarm devices as operating costs, although the regional court had only declared this to be inadmissible in April of this year. The surprising thing about it: Among the affected tenants in Spandau are those residents who won in court in April.
The Alternative Tenant and Consumer Protection Association (AMV), which represents the interests of tenants from the Spandau residential complex, is outraged. “According to the judgment of the Berlin Regional Court, the AMV would have expected Deutsche Wohnen to refrain from charging its tenants with these costs through their operating cost bills in the future,” says AMV boss Marcel Eupen. “Instead, boldly going on as if the decisive judgment of the Berlin Regional Court does not exist and continuing to pass the costs of renting smoke alarms on to the tenants, you can’t beat the chutzpah.”
The district court ruled on April 8th that the expenses for renting smoke alarm devices should not be billed to tenants as operating costs (67 S 335/20). As a justification, the court stated that the rental costs for the smoke alarm device were not realizable operating costs. According to this, operating costs are only those that the landlord incurs on an ongoing basis through ownership. Although the cost of renting smoke alarm devices was incurred “continuously”, it was not the property of the landlord.
Company accepted the April decision
In the opinion of the court, on the other hand, the costs for regular maintenance of the smoke alarm devices are to be considered as operating costs – and thus to be borne by the tenants. While Deutsche Wohnen accepted the judgment, the AMV has appealed against the part of the decision in which the maintenance costs for smoke alarm devices are recognized as operating costs. A decision is pending.
With the operating cost statement for 2020, which Deutsche Wohnen sent out in October, the tenants in Spandau were again billed for the full cost of renting and maintaining the smoke alarm devices. The Alternative Tenant and Consumer Protection Association lodged an objection. With success. In its answer to the AMV, Deutsche Wohnen refers to an “inconsistent case law” and confirms that it adheres to its legal opinion, according to which the costs can be passed on to the tenants. At the same time, however, the company admits that it is crediting the AMV members with the pro rata rental costs for the smoke alarm device for 2020 in the amount of EUR 13.32 “as a gesture of goodwill and without recognizing any legal obligation” – in order to “bring the matter to a conclusion” .
Deutsche Wohnen made a similar statement at the request of the Berliner Zeitung. “Various court rulings across Germany have confirmed the apportionability in the past,” argues a company spokesman. “And with it our legal position on this issue, which we are sticking to.” When asked how many tenants in Berlin Deutsche Wohnen has billed the costs for renting smoke alarms, the spokesman did not answer. It remains unclear how many tenants of the roughly 110,000 Deutsche Wohnen apartments in Berlin are affected by the practice. With such a large number of accommodations, even the smallest amounts can quickly turn into sums of millions. There was also no answer to the question of whether Deutsche Wohnen will voluntarily reimburse all tenants who have been billed for the cost of renting smoke alarms or only those who have objected.
Tenant representatives speak of disrespect
The Alternative Tenant and Consumer Protection Association describes Deutsche Wohnen’s argument that other courts have confirmed that the costs for smoke alarms can be apportioned as “disrespectful” to the case law in Berlin. “Because the other court judgments do not come from Berlin,” says AMV boss Eupen. The only decisive factor for Berlin tenants, however, is how the local district court decides or how the Federal Court of Justice ruled. “We demand that Deutsche Wohnen pay back the wrongly collected amounts to all affected tenants,” says Eupen. Like Deutsche Wohnen, “no serious major landlord behaves unless he wants to advertise the expropriation and socialization of his housing stock”.
In the dispute over the smoke alarm device, the news broke on Monday that the takeover of Deutsche Wohnen by Vonovia is going differently than planned. The previous head of Deutsche Wohnen, Michael Zahn, will not be promoted to the Vonovia board of directors as deputy chairman. Zahn, who had trimmed Deutsche Wohnen to make a profit, announced his waiver on Monday. During his tenure, the Deutsche Wohnen und Co initiative was founded. The referendum she obtained on the socialization of apartments in large corporations received a large majority on September 26th.