Landlord Maintenance Obligation: What Applies and What It Means for Property Managers

A landlord's maintenance obligation follows from Section 535(1) sentence 2 of the German Civil Code (BGB): the landlord must hand over the rented property in a condition fit for its contractually agreed use and keep it in that condition for the duration of the tenancy, which includes repairing damage. For rented condominium units, additional requirements under German condominium law (WEG) apply regarding the collection of resolutions, including those on maintenance measures. For property managers, this translates into growing coordination and communication workload that many can only handle with digital support these days.

What does a landlord's maintenance obligation actually involve?

The maintenance obligation describes a landlord's duty under Section 535(1) sentence 2 BGB to keep the rented property, for the entire duration of the tenancy, in the condition that matches the use agreed in the contract. That covers everything that is let with the property: the building structure as well as technical systems such as heating, plumbing, or electrical installations. For rented units within a condominium association (a "WEG"), this duty overlaps with rules under the German Condominium Act, since resolutions on maintenance work affecting shared property must be documented in what's known as the collection of resolutions.

For day-to-day management, what matters most is that resolutions on maintenance measures are properly recorded. Under the German Condominium Act (WEG), a collection of resolutions must be maintained, which must include, among other things, the exact wording of each resolution along with the place and date it was announced (Section 24(7) sentence 1 no. 2 WEG). If even a single owner's required declaration in text form is missing, the manager generally cannot validly announce a resolution. These formal requirements show just how closely maintenance obligations and proper administrative documentation are intertwined.

Every unit owner, along with any third party they authorise, has a right under the WEG to inspect the collection of resolutions (Section 24(7) sentence 8 WEG). Under Section 24(8) WEG, the collection of resolutions is generally maintained by the manager, or, failing that, by the chair of the owners' meeting if no manager is in place and the owners have not appointed someone else by majority vote. These rules make clear that in practice, the maintenance obligation is inseparably linked to administrative workload, deadlines, and communication.

What benefits does well-organised maintenance management bring landlords?

Handling the maintenance obligation in a structured way not only protects the building fabric but also reduces the potential for conflict with tenants and owners. Managers who record, document, and resolve defects promptly avoid legal disputes and preserve the property's value over the long term. At the same time, the administrative burden grows, since every report, every resolution, and every follow-up ties up capacity that many property management firms simply don't have to spare.

The shortage of skilled staff is making things worse. According to the EBZ Business School, 73 percent of residential and condominium management companies see the skills shortage as their biggest challenge, and in 2024, 53 percent of management firms couldn't find suitable applicants. The average property manager today looks after around 270 residential units, meaning maintenance requests, defect reports, and resolution preparation all have to be handled across more properties in less time.

At the same time, regulatory pressure keeps rising. Lawmakers have significantly expanded requirements through the WEG reform, the Heating Act, and the Building Energy Act, while more than a third of property management firms still have no systematic digital strategy. This is exactly where digital support comes in: when defect reports, appointment scheduling, and status enquiries are captured and prioritised automatically, more time is freed up for the actual decisions on maintenance measures. At AI for property management companies, managers can find a practical approach to automating tenant communication around maintenance without having to hire additional staff.

Aspect · Traditional handling · Digitally supported handling

Recording defect reports · Phone, email, manual assignment · Automated capture and prioritisation

Documentation for the collection of resolutions · Manual upkeep, prone to errors · Structured, traceable record-keeping

Response time to tenant enquiries · Depends on staff workload · Significantly shorter thanks to automation

Resource needs as the portfolio grows · Rises in proportion to the number of units · Scales without additional staff

What does the maintenance obligation mean for property managers in practice?

The maintenance obligation isn't a one-off legal act, it's an ongoing process of reporting, review, resolution, commissioning, and documentation. For management firms already stretched thin, this process becomes a real bottleneck. According to the VDIV Industry Barometer 2025, the industry grew by 7.1 percent in 2024, and 70 percent of German property management firms report being overloaded, a third of them severely so. As a result, 14 percent are no longer taking on new mandates, and 63.2 percent are actively dropping maintenance-heavy properties. This shows just how directly maintenance workload feeds into business decisions.

Firms that want to meet their maintenance obligations reliably and in a legally sound way should document processes, track deadlines systematically, and consolidate communication channels. The Vectimo Academy shows, using practical examples, how this can be put into practice with AI-supported tools for property management firms of any size.

What's the bottom line on a landlord's maintenance obligation?

A landlord's maintenance obligation remains a core legal duty, and putting it into practice is becoming ever more demanding amid the skills shortage and growing regulation. Firms that organise their reporting channels, documentation, and communication digitally noticeably relieve their teams while also meeting the formal requirements of condominium and tenancy law more reliably. For the rollout of AI tools, experience suggests that around three months of structured preparation produce the first measurable results, and management firms typically see the full benefit after nine to fifteen months.