Rules for waste disposal in the apartment building

Overflowing containers or smelly organic bins - there is always controversy about waste and its disposal in apartment buildings. What rights tenants and landlords have.

Berlin / Hamburg (dpa / tmn) - Large cardboard boxes are stacked up in the paper container, torn garbage bags lie next to the bin full to the brim, and there is a pungent smell from the organic waste bin - conflicts with waste disposal repeatedly occur in apartment buildings.

A common problem: the tons put up are not sufficient for the waste of the tenants. In this case, there is only one way for tenants: you have to inform the landlord.

Landlord has to take care of bigger tons

"Its duty is to provide for larger or more tons," says Julia Wagner from the owner association Haus & Grund Germany in Berlin. After all, it is the right of a tenant to be able to properly dispose of their garbage. However, the landlord, like all other waste disposal costs, can pass on the additional costs for a larger or additional ton to the tenants as operating costs.

If the landlord does not fulfill his obligation despite being asked to do so, this can be a defect, explains Silvia Jörg from the interest protection association in Hamburg. A rent reduction may then be justified.

Garbage has to be separated

In general, the garbage can is not the same as the garbage can. They are available in gray, blue, yellow, green or brown. Separating waste is a legal obligation. "How exactly this works is regulated differently from state to state," explains Jörg.

Ultimately, the municipalities stipulate in their statutes which tons are used for which waste. "In Hamburg, for example, the owner has been obliged to set up a blue bin for paper since 2011," says Wagner. In Remscheid, for example, this is regulated differently. "Since the bin can be set up voluntarily."

Landlord must inform tenant of waste separation

"It is the landlord's job to inform the tenants of the house about the correct sorting of waste," says Rolf Janßen, managing director of the DMB tenant protection association in Frankfurt am Main. Above all, the landlord should inform that incorrect garbage separation leads to more garbage costs and thus higher additional costs.

Because the tenant has to finance the expenses resulting from increases in the garbage fees - "provided the levy is effectively agreed in the rental agreement," emphasizes Janßen. Costs due to waste disposal arranged by the landlord are also apportionable.

Landlord can control waste disposal

The landlord is also entitled to inspect the garbage. After all, he has to act economically when setting up the tons. In order to have an overview of whether the garbage bins are sufficient or oversized, the landlord may occasionally check whether the bins are suitable for the waste generated.

He can also lift the lid of the bins and check whether the tenants have properly separated the garbage. If this is not the case, the landlord is entitled to inform the tenants of correct waste separation. "For other reasons, the landlord may not control the garbage," says Wagner.

Disposal in the hallway is not permitted

The question often arises as to who is responsible when there is garbage in the hallway. "If this is not garbage from tenants but, for example, from craftsmen who work on-site on behalf of the landlord, the landlord cannot pass the costs of disposal on to the tenants," explains Janßen.

However, if the garbage comes from tenants, the landlord should ask them to properly dispose of their garbage. "If this does not happen, the landlord could have this waste disposed of at the expense of the person who caused it," explains Janßen.

House rules usually regulate the location of the tons

The house rules or the rental contract should also clearly regulate where the garbage cans are to be placed. If there is no such agreement, a single tenant cannot simply put the bin wherever he wants. It is customary to store them outside the living quarters - a tenant is therefore not allowed to set them up in his home (AG Brühl, judgment of 4.4.1997, 23 C 193/96, WuM 1997, 549). If only because of the smells coming from the bin, this seems appropriate.