MIPIM 2023

Disput Huebner will participate in MIPIM, which will be held in Cannes from 14 to 17 March 2023.

CARBON DIOXIDE COST ALLOCATION ACT

Under the current legal situation, companies that place certain energy sources on the market have to pay a certain carbon dioxide price, which they regularly pass on to their customers. Under the previously applicable legal situation, a landlord could pass on the carbon dioxide costs included in the heating costs in full to the tenant if there was a corresponding contractual agreement. Effective as of 1 January 2023, the Carbon Dioxide Cost Allocation Act (Kohlendioxidkostenaufteilungsgesetz – CO2KostAufG) came into force, the purpose of which is to allocate these carbon dioxide costs between landlord and tenant. In the case of rented rooms in buildings that are predominantly used for residential purposes (residential buildings), the maximum carbon dioxide costs to be borne by the tenant are to be determined according to a graduated model, which is essentially based on the carbon dioxide emissions of the rented property. For rooms in non-residential buildings, the landlord must bear at least half of the carbon dioxide costs. It is expected that in 2025, the legislator will also introduce a graduated model for rented rooms in non-residential buildings. When concluding lease agreements, the regulations of the CO2KostAufG should be taken into account by including appropriate clauses in the lease agreement.

Expo Real 2022

We will be visiting Expo Real from 4 to 6 October 2022 and look forward to the personal dialogue in Munich.

Award

Disput Hübner, Dr. Anja Disput, has been awarded again in the ranking “Best Lawyers in Germany 2022″of the Handelsblatt in cooperation with Best Lawyers in the area of real estate law.

Berlin Regional Court: Violation of written form in case of unclear option provision

In its ruling of 7 May 2022 (Matter No.: 23 O 177/20), the Berlin Regional Court confirmed that the written form requirement of Sec. 550 of the German Civil Code (BGB) is only obtained if the agreement required for the conclusion of the contract on all material terms of the contract – in particular the subject matter of the lease, the rent, the term of the contract and the parties to the lease – results from a document signed by both parties. In particular, an option granting one or both parties the right to extend the existing lease for a certain period of time by means of a unilateral declaration also constitutes a material contractual condition.

OLG Rostock: Interpretation of a rent adjustment clause

In its judgment of April 26, 2022 (Case No.: 14 U XV 7/21), the Rostock Higher Regional Court ruled that a rent adjustment clause, which stipulates that each contracting party may demand an adjustment of the rent “after every two lease years”, must be interpreted to the effect that a request for adjustment may be asserted “after two years at the earliest”. The Higher Regional Court based this on the interests of the parties; when concluding the rent adjustment clause, these interests were primarily aimed at agreeing on a legally effective (contractual) provision on the prerequisites of a rent adjustment clause which met the requirements of Sec. 593 of the German Civil Code (BGB).

Federal Court of Justice: No consumption-based billing if no heat meter exists

The XIII. Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled on 12 January 2022 (VIII ZR 151/20) on the legality of the reduction declared by the tenant pursuant to Sec. 12 (1) sentence 1 of the German Heating Costs Ordinance (HeizkostenV) due to non-consumption-based billing of heating and hot water costs. In the underlying facts, the plaintiff tenant demanded repayment of the rental security deposit from his landlord after the end of the tenancy. The defendant landlord offset the claim against claims for back payments for operating costs.

In its decision, the Senate found that the operating cost accounts for the years 2016 and 2017 had not been settled on the basis of consumption and that the plaintiff was therefore entitled to a reduction of 15 percent under Sec. 12 (1) sentence 1 of the HeizkostenV.

The building in dispute has a central connected system for supplying the apartments with heat and hot water, so that the costs incurred uniformly for this are to be divided according to Sec. 9 (1) HeizkostenV. For this purpose, according to Sec. 9 (2) sentence 1 HeizkostenV, the heat quantity attributable to the central hot water supply system had to be measured with a heat quantity meter. However, the building did not have a heat meter. In such cases, the landlord was also not allowed to substitute the calculation formula listed in Sec. 9 (2) sentence 4 HeizkostenV, since the measurement of the volume of consumed water by installing a heat meter had been possible in principle.

NEW COLLEAGUE

We are very pleased to welcome Ditijana Shabani to the DisputHübner team as of 15 February 2022 and wish her a successful start. Ms Shabani advises in the area of real estate law.

MIPIM 2022

Disput Huebner will participate in MIPIM, which will be held in Cannes from 15 to 18 March 2022.

New office space

We are expanding our team and have therefore leased new office space from 1 April 2022 in the Junghof, which is owned by a fund of Tishman Speyer, on Neue Rothofstraße. The new office space is located on the 7th floor of the Junghof and allows us to work in a team-oriented manner in the open space and in individual offices.