The flat has been vacated and the tenancy agreement requires a broom-clean return. On inspection various spots are noted: loose debris in the storage room, cobwebs in the cellar and visible marks on window panes. A cleaning company then offers a complete package for all windows, floors and surfaces. As the landlord you now need a substantiated claim before you allocate this package to the former tenant.
First secure the agreed standard
§ 546 BGB obliges the return of the property after termination of the tenancy; it does not contain a blanket basic-cleaning catalogue. [B546] Therefore take the actually signed contract and any later agreements to hand. The following course of examination concerns the agreed broom-clean return. If there are other cleaning provisions alongside it, their meaning and validity must be clarified separately.
The BGH has limited the obligation to return broom-clean to the removal of gross dirt. At the same time it made clear: gross dirt must be removed in its entirety. The duty is therefore not confined to the floor. [BGH124] The word broom does not imply either a complete window cleaning or a general exception for all higher-lying surfaces.
Describe every contested spot
As an aid, record separately for each spot what is actually present, where it is located and by what the observation is evidenced. For example, do not merely write kitchen unclean if your complaint relates to a particular residue at a particular location. Meaningful overview and detail photographs and any existing reports help to relate the later assessment to the same state.
In the BGH case the evaluation of the court of appeal was decisive: it had found gross dirt only with regard to the cobwebs in the cellar; no other gross dirt had been established. The BGH did not fault this evaluation of fact. [BGH124] No universal list can be derived from this saying that every window will always be sufficiently clean or every kitchen residue will always be gross.
A single case with three different outcomes
In the fictitious case a landlady reorganises the cleaning offer. She documents the loose debris in the storage room specifically. She records the cobwebs in the cellar as a separate complaint. For the windows she initially describes only the observed marks and leaves open whether these breach the agreed standard.
She asks the company for comprehensible itemised positions for the actual contested spots. The additionally offered complete cleaning of all surfaces she records separately as her own preparation request. This separation is an editorial preparation and does not yet decide who must legally bear individual costs.
Separate claim and desired preparation
Inform the tenant which specific dirt you are complaining about and on which contractual basis. A general reference to the overall offer does not answer the question of the owed condition. Also document any differing statement by the tenant so that a disputed observation does not become an apparently established breach of duty.
Before issuing a claim for costs, the legal prerequisites, necessary steps and the concrete scope must additionally be examined professionally. This article does not authorise a payment deadline or a deduction from the deposit. Its result is a comprehensible allocation: specifically verifiable complaints, unclear spots and additional works that you wish to carry out yourself for the next letting.