Handling a maintenance request

A repair report is a clock starting. From the moment a tenant tells you about a defect, the flat is legally impaired until it is fixed — and an unanswered message is the most expensive way to handle one. The process below keeps small problems small.

Triage first, in three buckets

Decide within the hour which bucket you are in. Everything else follows from that.

• Emergency — danger to people or rapidly worsening damage to the building. Burst pipe, gas smell, no heating in winter, electrical fault, a door or window that will not secure. Act immediately, day or night; the tenant is entitled to arrange an emergency service themselves at your cost if you cannot be reached.
• Urgent — the flat is usable but significantly impaired. No hot water, a broken oven, a leak that is contained, a failing lock. Respond same day, fix within days.
• Routine — cosmetic or minor. A dripping tap, a sticking window, a loose tile. Acknowledge within a day or two, batch it sensibly with other work.

If you are unsure, ask for photos before deciding. One photo resolves most ambiguity.

Know what you owe

You are responsible for keeping the flat in a condition fit for its contractual use, for the whole tenancy. The tenant, for their part, must report defects promptly — and if they fail to, and the damage grows, they can become liable for the difference.

While a genuine defect persists, the tenant may be entitled to reduce the rent (Mietminderung) in proportion to the impairment, from the day the defect arose, not the day they complained. That is the real cost of a slow response: not the repair, but the weeks of reduced rent while it waits.

Respond, then document

Your first reply should do four things, and it can be three lines long:

1. Confirm you received the report and state the date.
2. Say what happens next and by when.
3. Ask for anything missing — photos, when it started, whether it is getting worse.
4. Give the tenant a single channel to reply on.

Then record it: what was reported, when, by whom, with the photos attached. If it later becomes a dispute about rent reduction or deposit deductions, this record is the whole case. In the FlatApp cockpit an incident sits on the property record with its timeline, photos, costs and messages in one place, which is exactly the shape this evidence needs to be in.

Assign the work

• Keep two contacts per trade — plumber, electrician, heating, locksmith, general handyman. One is not a plan.
• For anything above a few hundred euros, get a written quote before instructing.
• Tell the contractor to contact the tenant directly to arrange access, and tell the tenant who will call and from which company.
• Ask for the invoice to reference the property and the defect. It makes the annual accounts and any later dispute far easier.

Access and appointments

You do not have a general right to enter a let flat. Access needs a concrete reason — a repair is one — and reasonable advance notice, usually a few days, at a time that works for the tenant within normal hours. Keys in your possession do not change that.

The exception is genuine danger: a burst pipe or a gas leak justifies immediate entry. Everything short of that gets an appointment.

If the tenant repeatedly refuses reasonable appointments, put the request in writing with two or three concrete alternatives and keep the correspondence.

Who pays

• You, for ordinary defects, wear and tear, and anything that simply reached the end of its life.
• The tenant, where they or their guests caused the damage through improper use — which you have to be able to show, not merely assert.
• The tenant, up to a cap, if the contract contains a valid small-repairs clause (Kleinreparaturklausel). To be valid such a clause needs both a limit per individual repair and an annual ceiling, and it can only cover items the tenant handles directly and frequently — taps, switches, handles, blinds. It cannot be used to pass on a share of a large repair.
• The building insurance, for water damage, storm, fire and glass, if the policy covers it — report early, insurers dislike late notification.

Do not deduct disputed repair costs from the deposit during the tenancy. The deposit is security for the end of it.

Close the loop

When the work is done: confirm with the tenant that the defect is resolved, file the invoice against the property, note whether any part is recoverable through the Nebenkosten or insurance, and close the record with a date. An incident that is fixed but never closed is the one that reappears in an argument two years later.

Maintenance checklist

1. Report triaged as emergency, urgent or routine within the hour.
2. Acknowledgement sent the same day, with a next step and a date.
3. Report, date, photos and reporter recorded against the property.
4. Written quote obtained for anything substantial.
5. Access arranged with reasonable notice, in writing.
6. Cost allocation decided against the contract and evidence, not assumption.
7. Insurance notified early where relevant.
8. Resolution confirmed with the tenant; invoice filed; incident closed with a date.

This guide explains common practice in the German rental market and is meant as orientation, not legal advice. For a decision that costs you money, check your own contract and, if in doubt, ask a lawyer or a local tenants’ association (Mieterverein).