Naked landlord doesn’t justify lower rent, rules German court

Judges were ruling on an appeal against a lower court decision that went in the landlord’s favour, and the tenant had only limited success overall. Photo / AP

A landlord sunbathing naked in the courtyard of his building was no reason for one of his tenants to withhold its rental payments, a German court has ruled.

The case involved a building in an upmarket district of Frankfurt, which included an office floor, rented by a human resources company. The company withheld rent because it objected, among other things, to the landlord’s naked sunbathing. In response, the landlord sued.

The Frankfurt state court rejected the company’s reasoning, finding that “the usability of the rented property was not impaired by the plaintiff sunning himself naked in the courtyard”.

It said in a statement that it could not see an “inadmissible, deliberately improper effect on the property”.

The judges were ruling on an appeal against a lower court decision that went in the landlord’s favour, and the tenant had only limited success overall. The court found that the tenant had been entitled to reduce rental payments for three months, only because of noisy construction work in the neighbourhood.

The court said the spot where the landlord sunbathed could be seen from the office by only if people leant far out of the window.

It also said the tenant failed to prove that the landlord took the stairs to the courtyard unclothed. “On the contrary, the plaintiff stated credibly that he always wore a bathrobe, which he only took off just before the sun lounger,” it said.