Letting an unrenovated flat: prepare the condition and agreements clearly

Choose the condition and letting model before advertising

Letting without fresh decoration can make sense when the flat is usable and the incoming tenant wants to choose their own finishes. It can also avoid paying for paint that someone immediately replaces. However, handing work to the tenant does not automatically reduce the landlord's overall costs. You still need a clear scope, a workable timetable and an agreement that accurately allocates responsibilities.

Consider three distinct options. You can arrange decoration before handover. You can let the flat in its usable, unrenovated condition without broadly transferring ongoing decorative repairs to the tenant. Alternatively, you can explore a properly reviewed arrangement involving specified work and compensation. Compare complete options, rather than combining a reduced initial payment, a verbal promise to paint and an unchanged standard tenancy form.

The intended move matters too. Someone needing accommodation immediately may have neither the time nor the practical ability to prepare walls and coordinate tradespeople. Another applicant may welcome that freedom, provided the work and financial benefit are clear. Willingness expressed during a hurried viewing is not a reliable substitute for discussing what the work actually involves.

Write a short preparation note stating the condition you intend to deliver, the work you will complete beforehand, what will remain and which arrangement requires legal review. This note is a planning tool, not a ready-made contract clause. The legal setting throughout this guide is Germany, including North Rhine-Westphalia. The English language does not introduce British, American or other foreign tenancy rules into a German letting.

Separate decorative wear from suitability for occupation

Inspect every room before describing the flat as ready to occupy. Check the intended water supply, heating, windows, doors and sanitary facilities. Look for damp, loose components and indications of electrical problems. Record any uncertainty for the appropriate specialist. A decoration allowance should not obscure a defect that affects how the flat can be used or whether it is safe.

The starting point is section 535 of the German Civil Code, usually abbreviated to BGB. The landlord must provide and maintain a condition suitable for the agreed use. This does not mean every flat must have contemporary finishes or brand-new fittings. The actual agreement matters, but describing worn surfaces is different from accepting an unexplained technical problem.

Prepare two lists. One covers repairs and technical questions that need resolving before the planned occupation. The other covers decorative condition: yellowing ceilings, old wallpaper, differently coloured walls or visible patch repairs. A feature that you cannot confidently classify should be investigated before it is covered with new paint. Ask the relevant contractor or surveyor to assess the underlying issue where necessary.

For example, discolouration behind a wardrobe may be an ordinary mark, but it may also justify investigating moisture. Record the observation without inventing a harmless explanation. A quotation to paint the wall is not a diagnosis. This distinction helps you decide which expenditure is unavoidable preparation and which is a matter for discussion about decorative preferences. It also produces a more useful brief for both contractors and the lawyer reviewing the letting documents.

Understand what the German decorating rules actually address

The German term Schönheitsreparaturen generally concerns decorative maintenance, such as painting walls and ceilings. It does not mean every repair within the property. Technical repairs, ordinary wear and possible claims for damage are separate questions. A tenant's acceptance of an unrenovated flat therefore does not establish either that they must do everything or that they can never be responsible for any work.

In its judgment of 18 March 2015, VIII ZR 185/14, the Federal Court of Justice addressed standard contractual terms. Transferring ongoing decorative repairs to a tenant who receives an unrenovated flat without adequate compensation is invalid under that ruling. Agreeing the flat's initial decorative condition is consequently a different question from assigning later decorating obligations.

An unrenovated flat need not be completely worn out. The assessment concerns the overall impression, including wear from before the tenancy; genuinely insignificant marks can be disregarded. Equally, a flat that presents as renovated need not necessarily have been completely repainted immediately before every new tenancy. Record the actual surfaces, rather than using only the date of the last painter's invoice.

A genuinely negotiated individual agreement requires a separate assessment. Section 305 BGB distinguishes terms negotiated individually from standard conditions. A separate sheet, handwriting or an additional signature does not by itself establish real negotiation. Have the tenancy and its attachments reviewed together. Adequate compensation also does not automatically fix unrelated defects in the wording, such as rigid decorating timetables disconnected from actual need.

Build any compensation calculation around the work

Adequate compensation is important when standard terms are intended to transfer ongoing decorative repairs despite an unrenovated handover. The 2015 judgment describes compensation that puts the tenant in the position of receiving renovated accommodation. It does not provide a universally valid price per square metre or a safe number of rent-free weeks. The half-month concession considered in that case was insufficient for the necessary painting in three of four rooms.

Start with a specification: surfaces, preparation, wallpaper removal, filling, paint coats and the intended finish. Obtain quotations that cover the actual work. Materials alone leave out labour, preparation, protection of floors and disposal. Where the tenant plans to work personally, discuss the practical effort and the work that still needs a competent contractor rather than assuming all labour is effectively free.

Consider a purely illustrative calculation. The specified decorative work is estimated at €2,400. A concession covering three full months of an €800 monthly net basic rent also totals €2,400. If the concession covers only that basic rent, agreed monthly operating-cost advances of €200 continue. These figures illustrate accounting only: matching two totals does not establish that the compensation is legally adequate for the actual condition and contract.

State when and how the tenant receives the benefit. A specified payment or a clearly dated rent concession is easier to understand than an assertion that the rent is already cheap. Review the continuing rent separately using our guide to calculating the rent. Neither the example rent nor the work estimate is a market valuation, quotation or statement of the lawful rent for your property.

Turn the proposal into a precise brief for the agreement

Before the documents are signed, both parties should understand the proposed result. “The tenant will renovate” says little about rooms, surfaces, preparation or completion. Describe the work room by room and connect each item to its starting condition. Photographs can explain the task but cannot replace a description of what is actually being undertaken in return for a financial benefit.

Separate permission to decorate according to personal taste from an obligation to perform specified work. A tenant who wants a different living-room colour does not thereby take on decorative responsibility for the whole flat. If personal labour is proposed, discuss available time, skills and materials. Establish how work requiring specialist knowledge will be handled before anyone makes an unrealistic commitment.

The brief for legal review should make four things explicit:

• The recorded initial condition and the particular decorative work are clearly connected.
• The compensation, payment method and any rental components waived are quantified.
• Key access, tenancy commencement, the working period and the agreed completion date fit together.
• Unexpected defects, additional costs and delays have an agreed process for discussion and resolution.

Early key access needs particular care. Record what use is allowed and clarify access, consumption and responsibilities while work takes place. Access before the planned move should not simply be treated as proof of an adequate concession. A tenancy lawyer should assess the proposal together with the main contract, rather than leaving you to assemble clauses from unrelated templates. The purpose of this preparation is to make that review concrete and efficient, not to provide a universal legal formula.

Keep the outgoing tenant's arrangements separate

A direct change of tenants can encourage an apparently simple solution: the incoming tenant takes over a kitchen and paints the rooms, while the outgoing tenant avoids doing the work. Both tenants may see a practical advantage. Nevertheless, their arrangement does not automatically determine the landlord's obligations or the validity of clauses in the new tenancy.

The judgment of 22 August 2018, VIII ZR 277/16, confirms that an agreement solely between outgoing and incoming tenants does not validate an otherwise ineffective standard decorating clause in the new tenancy. It does not simply turn the landlord's unrenovated handover into a renovated one. A coordinated arrangement involving all relevant parties would require its own legal assessment.

First establish whether the outgoing tenant actually owes the proposed work. Their length of occupation alone does not answer that question. Then distinguish the furniture transfer, payments between tenants and any compensation you provide. Do not promise that somebody is released from an existing obligation before checking what that obligation is and how the proposed arrangement affects it.

Use the same clarity when advertising. Show current photographs and identify the surfaces that will remain unchanged. Allow enough viewing time to discuss the work in the actual rooms. Our guide to finding tenants supports the wider preparation. An applicant's enthusiastic promise to renovate should not become the sole reason to select them: realistic timing, understandable conditions and an arrangement they can actually carry out matter as well.

Document the handover with room-by-room evidence

The handover record should establish a shared factual starting point. A single statement that the flat is unrenovated is too imprecise. More useful entries identify the yellowed living-room ceiling, the visible fixing holes beside the window or the two differently painted bedroom walls. Describe observations neutrally. Do not turn an uncertain observation into an unsupported diagnosis or an automatic admission of responsibility.

Take overview photographs as well as relevant close-ups. Connect each image to the room and the written record, and retain the original files with the documented date. Include rooms that appear generally well maintained. A folder containing only isolated defects may provide little evidence of the overall impression at the start of the tenancy, which is relevant to the decorating issue.

Our guide to the flat handover record helps bring the condition, keys and meter readings together. Add outstanding landlord work with the responsible person and agreed date. Give both parties matching copies and attachments. Where work has taken place between the viewing and handover, record that change rather than asking either person to confirm an outdated description.

Documentation is not a blanket waiver of rights. Knowledge of a defect and reservations on accepting the property may have consequences under section 536b BGB. However, “as viewed” does not automatically remove all landlord responsibilities. Name unresolved matters specifically. If the parties disagree about an observation, the record can preserve both positions instead of forcing an inaccurate general statement into the signature section.

Budget for responsibilities after the tenant moves in

An unrenovated handover does not end the landlord's maintenance responsibilities. Saving the initial painting bill does not mean there will be no decorative maintenance questions during the tenancy. Ordinary wear also needs to be distinguished from damage. Under section 538 BGB, the tenant is not responsible for deterioration caused by use consistent with the tenancy; particular damage claims need their own assessment.

The judgment of 8 July 2020, VIII ZR 270/18, addresses a particular situation. Where an unrenovated condition was accepted as contractual and decorative repairs were not effectively transferred, a substantial subsequent deterioration can support a claim for redecoration. Because the result improves on the initial condition, the tenant will generally contribute half the necessary costs in that situation. This is neither a universal rule for repairs nor the method for calculating compensation at move-in.

Before deciding, compare the whole cost and practical burden of renovating yourself, letting without that transfer of obligations, and using a legally reviewed arrangement with adequate compensation. Include contractor availability, possible vacancy and your own coordination time. The smallest immediate expense may not produce the most workable tenancy or the clearest relationship with the incoming tenant.

To discuss preparing your property for a new letting, use the landlord enquiry form and describe the location, intended start date and current condition. A short room list and the work still under consideration make the enquiry more useful. Technical findings belong with the relevant specialists, while individual decorating clauses should receive tenancy-law review before signature. This gives each practical and legal question an appropriate next step.