Ask a lawyer on the topic of Tenancy law

Construction noise/scaffolding has a longer duration than specified by the landlord.

October 23, 2009 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Steffan Schwerin

Hello, my landlord SAGA in Hamburg announced a roof renovation in May - the period was scheduled for 3 months - so from July to max September09 - but almost no one was there - new roof felt was partially processed on one roof ... in between, nothing happened at all - sporadically, craftsmen came around 7 am, but they were already gone by 8 and nothing happened... now the scaffolding is still there and there is a lot of noise in the mornings around 7 am, but no work is being done - I believe that it would have been possible to completely renovate the roof within the scheduled time of 3 months - now of course, due to weather conditions, there is not much to do and definitely only craftsmen are there early in the morning, but it is not clear what they are actually doing - the scaffolding has been standing in front of my windows from both sides since July and apart from 'fake construction noise' nothing is happening... I would now like to reduce the rent, as the noise and dirt nuisance is not insignificant and the announced period has already been greatly exceeded. My question is therefore whether I can partially withhold the rent for the next month and if so, how much would be the share! Looking forward to a quick response... Best regards, Sandra Muss

Steffan Schwerin

Dear questioner,

I will answer the questions you have asked taking into consideration the circumstances described and your input as follows:

If there is a defect in the rented property, the rent can be reduced. The landlord must be notified of the defect and given the opportunity to rectify it. In the event that the landlord does not rectify the defect, a reduction in rent can be threatened. Once the deadline for rectifying the defect has expired, the rent can be reduced without further intervention.

In this case, the rent can already be reduced from October onwards, as the construction work causes noise pollution, which constitutes a defect.

The amount of the reduction depends on the actual impairment. Various values developed by case law serve as guidance.

In this case, a reduction of 10% in rent would be advisable. If the impairments are of a larger scale, you could also reduce by 15 to 20%. However, I would not recommend going beyond that.

Inform the landlord of the defect and announce the reduction in rent. Since the landlord will not rectify the defect, the rent can be reduced immediately.

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I hope I have given you an initial overview and that my explanations have been helpful. You can contact me through the follow-up option on this platform.

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Best regards,

Steffan Schwerin
Lawyer

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