Tenants who refuse the owner of an appointment to view their apartment can have their rental contract terminated extraordinarily. This was decided by the district court of Munich in a civil law dispute. The plaintiff in the proceedings was the new owner of a 60 square meter three-room apartment in Maxvorstadt. When the apartment was advertised for sale, the two tenants had already refused prospective buyers to view it. Nevertheless, a buyer was found for the apartment. He bought the property without seeing it first.
But after the purchase was sealed, he finally wanted to take a look at the apartment. However, the tenants objected. Within five months, they canceled no fewer than eight viewing appointments. Consequence: The new owner terminated the existing rental contract extraordinarily. He justified his step by saying that he and the bank that financed the purchase have the right to inspect the apartment in order to be able to assess its condition. The persistent refusal of the tenants is a reason for an extraordinary termination. The district judge who dealt with the case confirmed this view in her judgment.
“There must be special reasons for the landlord to inspect an apartment,” said the judge. In the present case this is the case. Since the plaintiff was not given the opportunity to inspect the apartment before purchasing it, he now has a “right to inspect” “as the purchaser of the apartment”. The defendant tenants cited training preparation and quarantine due to positive corona tests as the reason for letting eight viewing appointments pass. However, they did not provide the court with a medical certificate with which they could have proven this. A “permissible offer of evidence” is therefore not available, the judge stated. And the alleged training preparation does not represent a “sufficient reason for preventing”. The judgment of the district court (Az. 474 C 4123/21) is final.