Reader question: Which documents and deadlines must I check if I have borne at my own expense necessary expenditure that was the landlord’s responsibility?
You paid a tradesperson yourself in your Austrian rented flat because a necessary repair could not wait. It now needs to be clarified whether and to what extent the landlord must reimburse the expenditure. The invoice initially proves an expense. It does not yet answer who was obliged to carry out the work and whether this scope is actually refundable.
§1097 ABGB is significant for this examination. It distinguishes expenditure incumbent on the landlord and useful expenditure with reference to further rules. [ABGB1097] The following procedure focuses on the alleged necessary expenditure, not on an optionally desired modernisation.
Establish the obligation to perform the specific work
Present the contract, the affected item and a description of the defect. What maintenance obligation actually existed? The general starting point of §1096 does not replace the examination of special tenancy-law rules and the concrete contractual situation. [ABGB1096]
An appliance felt personally to be outdated is different from a demonstrable defect in a component that the landlord is obliged to maintain. A comfort upgrade commissioned at the same time will not, without further basis, count as the same necessary work. Therefore separate the findings, the necessary measure and any additional wishes.
Prove the notification and the actual urgency to act
§1097 obliges to give notice without delay when repairs that fall to the landlord become necessary. [ABGB1097] Secure the time, recipient and content of your notification as well as any responses that were reasonably obtainable. A message created afterwards will not be presented as an earlier attempt to make contact.
§1036 names necessary and purpose-made expenditure to avert impending damage. [ABGB1036] For classification, the condition at the time, the expected development and the concrete course of action are therefore important. An invoice stating “emergency service” does not by itself confirm any legal claim.
Fictitious case with two invoice components
After a concretely documented defect, in the invented case a tradesperson is engaged. The order comprises a limited necessary securing or repair measure. The same invoice also contains an improvement desired by the tenant party, which was not needed for the acute averting of damage.
The tenant produces the technical description, notification and proof of payment and requests separate allocation of the items. They do not automatically claim the total amount simply because the company charged everything on one sheet. The case does not provide a technical repair manual and does not confirm any specific maintenance obligation.
Link the actual expenditure to the amount of the claim
Prepare the order, the service report, the itemised invoice and the payment made. Explain which item fulfilled which purpose. If a measure was unsuccessful, this must likewise not be concealed; §1036 contains a special rule for efforts vain through no fault. [ABGB1036]
Mere useful expenditure is subject to a different statutory standard under §1037. [ABGB1037] An initially unclear case should therefore not simply be called an emergency to avoid the other review. Also delineate other relevant bases of claim and possible agreements.
Returning the property triggers an important deadline question
§1097 requires the judicial claim for reimbursement no later than six months after the return of the item and states that failure to meet this period results in the lapse of the claim. [ABGB1097] A private sending of an invoice will not, without scrutiny, be equated with the same judicial assertion.
Therefore do not wait with the examination of the claim only until after moving out. If the flat has already been returned, provide the return date and the current status of proceedings immediately. The article does not calculate an individual deadline and does not state that any other possible deadline is thereby resolved.
Your result is a documented concrete reimbursement question. It links allocation of duties, the notification at the time, the required scope of performance and your own payment. An amount you have calculated yourself will not be deducted from the running rent without further examination.