Rent home repair expenses: how they should be divided between landlord and tenant

Below we illustrate some general criteria on the costs of maintenance between the conductor (the "Tenant") and the lessor (the "Owner") for the duration of the lease of a property.

The basis of the criteria of allotment is given by the Civil Code, Articles 1575, 1576, 1609, which give the landlord the obligation to maintain the property in such a manner as to permit the use agreed. The handler, however, entitled to the supporting minor maintenance made necessary by the deterioration produced by the normal use of the property, which means that it is important to determine the way in which he has used it deteriorated.

Therefore, if the tenant has used the property with care and in a manner consistent with the stipulated use, and yet it is damaged due to age or to an unforeseeable event (accident), the intervention is borne by the lessor, even in the Should a small repair.

What has been said is true in the absence of other agreements between the parties. The dispositive nature of the articles mentioned makes it possible exception to the point to be borne by the conductor each intervention on the building of both ordinary and extraordinary maintenance and it is not uncommon to be in front of contracts entered into in this regard.

That said, we need to identify when a repair can be said to be "small" and as such be borne by the tenant. On this point, the judges are generally expressed by using a quantitative criterion: "minor repair" is one that involves a small cost in proportion to the size of the rent, the lease term and the type of accommodation.

Through the judicial rulings that have adopted this criterion can be considered chargeable to the lessor, unless exceptions repairs involving:

- Electric, water and heat;

- External joinery;

- Gate;

- Gate of the building;

- Centralized television antenna;

- Gutters, downspouts, drain columns;

- Replacement of a boiler or water heater;

provided that they are attributable to age or accident, and not to misuse it made by the conductor.

Instead, they are works of small maintenance and as such affect the conductor those relating to:

- The painting of walls and fixtures as well as their internal and external plastering;

- Skirting boards, door handles and locks;

- Float;

- Wall tiles and floor tiles;

- Taps.

20/10/2011

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Translated via software

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Source:

Italian version of ReteIngegneri.it