{"id":1583,"date":"2026-10-09T00:04:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2026-10-09T00:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T22:04:29","slug":"knp-810-8ac566ade10c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/knp-810-8ac566ade10c\/","title":{"rendered":"Obli\u00adga\u00adti\u00adon to pro\u00advi\u00adde hea\u00adting in ten\u00adan\u00adcy agree\u00adments: What tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures land\u00adlords must guarantee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The hea\u00adting sea\u00adson has been under\u00adway in Ger\u00adma\u00adny again sin\u00adce 1 Octo\u00adber and usual\u00adly lasts until 30 April. For land\u00adlords, this means that during this peri\u00adod they are obli\u00adged to keep the hea\u00adting sys\u00adtem in working order so that ten\u00adants can main\u00adtain cer\u00adtain mini\u00admum tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures in their rooms. Anyo\u00adne who negle\u00adcts this duty risks a reduc\u00adtion in rent, which can be sub\u00adstan\u00adti\u00adal depen\u00adding on the seve\u00adri\u00adty of the&nbsp;fault.<\/p>\n<h2>What the law stipulates and what case law clarifies<\/h2>\n<p>The Ger\u00adman Civil Code does not spe\u00adci\u00adfy any par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre figu\u00adres. Under Sec\u00adtion 535 of the Ger\u00adman Civil Code, a land\u00adlord is mere\u00adly obli\u00adged to pro\u00advi\u00adde a flat that is in a con\u00addi\u00adti\u00adon sui\u00adta\u00adble for the use spe\u00adci\u00adfied in the con\u00adtract. Case law has, over the cour\u00adse of deca\u00addes, estab\u00adlished exact\u00adly what tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures this entails.<\/p>\n<p>The reco\u00adg\u00adnis\u00aded gui\u00adde\u00adline is that, during the day \u2013 that is, from 6 am to 11 pm \u2013 the tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre in living are\u00adas should be at least 20 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus. In the bath\u00adroom, the tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre must even be 21 degrees, as the Lands\u00adhut Regio\u00adnal Court ruled as far back as 1985 (Lands\u00adhut Regio\u00adnal Court, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 18 Decem\u00adber 1985, 1 S 1222\/85). For the night-time hours, i.e. bet\u00adween 11 pm and 6 am, a reduc\u00adtion to around 16 to 18 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus is per\u00admis\u00adsi\u00adble accor\u00adding to the case law of various local courts (Bonn Local Court, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 26 Janu\u00adary 2021, 206 C 18\/19; Colo\u00adgne Local Court, judgment of 5 July 2016, 205 C 36\/16).<\/p>\n<p>The Fede\u00adral Court of Jus\u00adti\u00adce has also addres\u00adsed this issue. Whilst it express\u00adly left the exact thres\u00adhold open, it con\u00adside\u00adred a day\u00adti\u00adme tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre of at least 20 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus to be reasonable (Fede\u00adral Court of Jus\u00adti\u00adce, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 15 May 1991, VIII ZR 38\/90).<\/p>\n<h2>Heating even outside the heating season<\/h2>\n<p>The obli\u00adga\u00adti\u00adon to pro\u00advi\u00adde hea\u00adting does not app\u00adly exclu\u00adsi\u00adve\u00adly bet\u00adween Octo\u00adber and April. If the out\u00adside tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre falls below 12 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus for more than three con\u00adse\u00adcu\u00adti\u00adve days, the land\u00adlord must switch on the hea\u00adting even out\u00adside the regu\u00adlar hea\u00adting sea\u00adson. This has been ruled by both the Uel\u00adzen Magis\u00adtra\u00adtes\u2019 Court (jud\u00adge\u00adment of 9 April 1986, 4a C 272\/86) and the Colo\u00adgne Magis\u00adtra\u00adtes\u2019 Court (jud\u00adge\u00adment of 9 April 2008, 220 C 152\/07).<\/p>\n<h2>How much can the rent reduction amount to?<\/h2>\n<p>If the hea\u00adting remains cold or the mini\u00admum tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures are con\u00adsis\u00adt\u00adent\u00adly not rea\u00adched, this gene\u00adral\u00adly con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtes a defect in the ten\u00adan\u00adcy. The amount of any rent reduc\u00adtion depends on the ext\u00adent of the disruption.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accor\u00adding to the Ber\u00adlin Regio\u00adnal Court, a devia\u00adti\u00adon of just one degree from the mini\u00admum tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre may alre\u00ada\u00addy jus\u00adti\u00adfy a reduc\u00adtion of five per cent (Ber\u00adlin Regio\u00adnal Court, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 8 June 2012, 63 S 423\/11).<\/li>\n<li>Whe\u00adre tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures rea\u00adched an avera\u00adge of just 18 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus, courts in Ber\u00adlin and Pots\u00addam award\u00aded a ten per cent reduction.<\/li>\n<li>Accor\u00adding to the Colo\u00adgne Local Court, tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures bet\u00adween 16 and 18 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus may even jus\u00adti\u00adfy a 20 per cent reduction.<\/li>\n<li>In the event of a com\u00adple\u00adte break\u00addown of the hea\u00adting sys\u00adtem during the hea\u00adting sea\u00adson, the Char\u00adlot\u00adten\u00adburg Local Court reco\u00adg\u00adnis\u00aded a 70 per cent reduc\u00adtion (Char\u00adlot\u00adten\u00adburg Local Court, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 7 June 2013, 216 C 7\/13).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Short-term or minor devia\u00adti\u00adons, on the other hand, are regard\u00aded as minor defects. A ten\u00adant wis\u00adhing to redu\u00adce the rent can\u00adnot do so on the grounds of an insi\u00adgni\u00adfi\u00adcant defect (Fede\u00adral Court of Jus\u00adti\u00adce, jud\u00adge\u00adment of 30 June 2004, XII ZR 251\/02). The decisi\u00adve fac\u00adtor here is the tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre actual\u00adly mea\u00adsu\u00adred, not the sub\u00adjec\u00adti\u00adve per\u00adcep\u00adti\u00adon of&nbsp;cold.<\/p>\n<h2>Contractual clauses and hot&nbsp;water<\/h2>\n<p>Accor\u00adding to a ruling by the Hei\u00addel\u00adberg Regio\u00adnal Court, clau\u00adses in ten\u00adan\u00adcy agree\u00adments sti\u00adpu\u00adla\u00adting that 18 degrees Cel\u00adsi\u00adus is suf\u00adfi\u00adci\u00adent are inva\u00adlid (Hei\u00addel\u00adberg Regio\u00adnal Court, ruling of 11 Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 1981, 5 S 80\/81). Land\u00adlords can\u00adnot the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre use such wor\u00adding to exempt them\u00adsel\u00adves from their obli\u00adga\u00adti\u00adon to pro\u00advi\u00adde heating.<\/p>\n<p>The hot water sup\u00adp\u00adly must also be gua\u00adran\u00adteed round the clock. It is not per\u00admit\u00adted to redu\u00adce the hot water tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre at night. If the water tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtu\u00adre is con\u00adsis\u00adt\u00adent\u00adly too low, or if it takes too long for hot water to reach the tap, a rent reduc\u00adtion may also be justified.<\/p>\n<p>Any ten\u00adant or land\u00adlord who is unsu\u00adre how to assess the legal situa\u00adti\u00adon in a spe\u00adci\u00adfic case should seek legal advice, as the cir\u00adcum\u00ads\u00adtances of each indi\u00advi\u00addu\u00adal case play a decisi\u00adve role in rent reductions.<\/p>\n<div id=\"knp-source-attribution\">\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.haufe.de\/immobilien\/wirtschaft-politik\/mindesttemperatur-rechtlich-knifflige-fragen-fuer-vermieter_84342_571228.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hau\u00adfe: Property<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"knp-ai-disclosure\">\n<p>This post and the accom\u00adpany\u00ading image were crea\u00adted with the help of AI and have been edi\u00adto\u00adri\u00adal\u00adly reviewed.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The hea\u00adting sea\u00adson beg\u00adins in Octo\u00adber: what tem\u00adpe\u00adra\u00adtures land\u00adlords are obli\u00adged to main\u00adtain, and when ten\u00adants may be entit\u00adled to a rent reduction.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[305,307,303,308,304,306],"class_list":["post-1583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mietrecht","tag-heizpflicht","tag-heizsaison","tag-mietminderung","tag-mietrecht","tag-mindesttemperatur","tag-wohnungsmaengel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanzlei-reese.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}