Gyms have to pay back contributions from the Corona lockdown

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BGH judgment
During corona lockdown: fitness studios have to pay back contributions

Unused exercise equipment is in a closed gym. Anyone who was unable to use their gym during the Corona lockdown is entitled to the membership fees paid during this time.

© Jonas Walzberg / DPA

05/05/2022, 10:43 am

1 min reading time

Anyone who was unable to use their gym during the Corona lockdown is entitled to the membership fees paid during this time. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has now decided in a judgment.

The judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) should please many customers of fitness studios: In a model case from Lower Saxony, it decided on Wednesday that a studio must repay a customer for the contributions collected by direct debit. “The purpose of a gym contract is regular physical activity,” said the top civil judges in Karlsruhe. With a closure of several weeks, it was impossible to provide this service.

The plaintiff had entered into a two-year contract that began to run in December 2019. After the outbreak of the corona pandemic, the studio had to close from March 16 to June 4, 2020.

The operator nevertheless continued to collect the monthly contributions of EUR 29.90. The customer had initially unsuccessfully asked his studio to pay back and finally asked for a voucher for the amount. However, the studio only offered him a “credit for training time” – the customer refused.

Before the BGH, the man was right in the last instance. In the case of a gym contract with a fixed term of several months, “the regular and year-round opening and usability of the studio is of crucial importance,” the judges decided. In the lockdown, this contractual purpose could not be achieved.

Gyms are not allowed to issue vouchers

According to the verdict, the studio also has no right to add the weeks of closure to the contract period, as some lower-instance courts had thought possible. The BGH judges also justify this with the voucher solution that the legislator introduced in spring 2020 to prevent mass insolvencies through reclaims.

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The regulation stipulated that organizers and institutions can also reimburse admission tickets and “rights of use” with a voucher. The BGH ruled that a final regulation had thus been made. A contract adjustment does not take place in addition.

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