How best to negotiate cosmetic repairs in the lease agreement? For example, repairs and painting work to be done by the tenant?
Cosmetic repairs in the lease
I share the tips from a landlord-tenant lawyer in this video. What is the best way to hand over the apartment? Does it have to be renovated or painted?
What does a tenant law attorney say about cosmetic repairs in a lease agreement?
Today there is once again a tip from me. And in fact I got myself a tip from the expert. I was at a lecture by a specialist lawyer for tenancy law and he explained some new things to me on the subject of cosmetic repairs.
Enforcing renovation when moving out is almost impossible
It's like this: If you hand over the apartment – as it is supposed to be – renovated to the new tenant, then the following can happen quickly.
You just haven't painted the doors or painted the radiators. However, this is stated in the lease agreement. Then the result is that the tenant does not have to carry out any cosmetic repairs at all! Because the landlord has then not handed over the apartment properly.
I was also very surprised and shocked by this myself.
What if you hand over the apartment unrenovated?
I then asked him how it looks if you hand over the apartment unrenovated and also want to have unrenovated back again. This is how I always explain it.
He said that would be the best way. Just don't put in the lease that the tenant got the apartment unrenovated in that case. Why?
It's like this: If the tenant himself has to carry out an initial renovation, then he usually has to get compensation for it accordingly from the landlord. So, for example, three months rent-free, but we don't want to do that. That's why we don't put that in at all. But the tenant simply moves into the unrenovated apartment and you only discuss it verbally with him.
Then the tenant can also return the apartment unrenovated
The tenant can later return the apartment unrenovated accordingly. This is the easiest way. Because there are now so many stumbling blocks and pitfalls that it is very unlikely to enforce the renovation in the normal way (apartment renovated handed over to the tenant and also renovated back from the tenant), if the tenant is there to oppose.
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