Lock or not? Quarrels often break out about this question in apartment buildings. The courts also disagree when it comes to the locked front door.
Berlin (dpa / tmn) - There is no legal obligation to lock the front door. In the rental agreement or in the house rules, however, it can be stipulated that the front door must be locked in the evening or at night, explains the German Tenants' Association (DMB) with a view to a decision by the Cologne Regional Court (Az. 1 S 201/12).
The judges confirmed the specification of house rules, according to which the ground floor tenant was obliged to close the doors leading to the outside by 9 p.m. in winter at the latest and by 10 p.m. in summer. The district court saw no unreasonable disadvantage in the fact that only the ground floor tenant has to take care of locking the front door, not the other residents.
Disputes surrounding the locking of the front door are not only about the question of who has to lock, but above all whether the front door should be locked or not. Here, the security interests of the residents against unauthorized access clash with the concerns of keeping an escape route open.
The Hanover Local Court considers regulations that require the front door to be locked as admissible (Az .: 544 C 8633/06). The local court in Frankfurt emphasizes that the landlord is not obliged to ensure that the front door is locked, a "snap lock" is sufficient (Az .: 33 C 1726/04).
The district court of Frankfurt overturned the decision of an apartment owners' meeting that the front door must be locked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (Az .: 2-13 S 127/12). Locking the front door would put the residents and their visitors at considerable risk. By locking the front door, it is only possible to leave the building in the event of a fire or other emergency situation if a key is carried.