Verdict: Sub-tenants do not have to introduce themselves to the home owner personally

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Visiting an apartment in Munich: Unletting repeatedly causes disputes in court

Photo: Tobias Hase / DPA

If you want to sublet your apartment, you have to ask your landlord for permission.

But landlords must not insist on getting to know the subtenant personally, found the Berlin Regional Court (Az .: 64 T 49/220), as reported in the magazine "Das Grundigentum" (No. 1/2021) of the Haus & Grund Berlin owners' association .

In the negotiated case, a tenant had to move out on May 31, 2020.

Therefore, he took care of a replacement apartment early on, which he found in November 2019.

To avoid a double burden, he looked for subtenants for his old apartment.

But the landlady made the consent dependent on getting to know the subtenant personally.

She was unable to assert herself in court: the tenant had a legitimate interest in subletting, both the district court and the regional court found.

With a view to the end of the contract, the tenant acted sensibly by looking for a new apartment at an early stage.

A landlord should not make permission to sublet dependent on the subtenant introducing himself personally.

The choice of a subtenant is solely a matter for the tenant.

Only the name, date and place of birth and information about the professional activity would have to be communicated to the landlord.

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