Court agrees with landlord: Labrador has to get out of the apartment

Created: 01/16/2023, 08:52

Keeping dogs in rented apartments is often a controversial topic.

Now the district court in Ebersberg was dealing with a Labrador that was kept in Zorneding.

© Luko Cover SAS

The District Court of Ebersberg has dismissed the lawsuit of two tenants of an apartment in Zorneding, who wanted their landlord's permission to keep a Labrador in their apartment.

Zorneding - A clause in the lease stipulates that keeping animals in the rented premises is not permitted without the landlord's consent, with the exception of "small animals".

In the run-up to the court proceedings, the defendant landlord had repeatedly rejected several corresponding requests from the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs have kept the dog in question in their apartment since May 2022.

Ebersberg District Court: Clause in the rental agreement not invalid

The district court first found that the clause in the rental agreement was not invalid.

After an interpretation of the wording of the clause in question shows that there is no general ban on keeping animals, but rather includes the landlord's promise to decide on the permission to keep animals in individual cases, taking into account all interests concerned, the clause is not inappropriate in particular discrimination against tenants.

In the present case, the weighing of interests to be carried out in the decision was in favor of the defendant landlord.

The district court first made it clear that only concrete indications of unreasonable harassment of the landlord or other tenants can justify a refusal to keep animals, not just general fears.

District Court: Keeping the dog in the apartment rightly refused

In the present case, the taking of evidence showed that the keeping of the dog in question in their apartment, as requested by the plaintiffs, was therefore rightly refused by the defendant.

When weighing up the conflicting interests, the court initially took into account in favor of the tenants that one of the plaintiffs himself could assert a health interest in keeping the dog and that the nature and behavior of the dog also did not preclude keeping it in the apartment in question.

On the other hand, however, understandable health concerns of another tenant spoke against approval of the attitude.

The court found that the landlord could only be obliged to give consent if the desired animal husbandry did not cause any disturbance or danger to other people.

However, this cannot be confirmed in the present case, which is why the action was dismissed.  

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