A community of homeowners may decide to install and maintain smoke detectors for all homes. Even if owners of individual apartments have already installed smoke detectors, the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) ruled.
He rejected the revision of apartment owners from North Rhine-Westphalia, who had already failed in their previous appeal against the decision of a total of 32 apartments community of owners.
Double fire protection
In this specific case, the owner community from the Dusseldorf area had decided that uniform smoke detectors should be installed and maintained in all apartments. However, several owners had already installed their own devices and fought against a lawsuit that they should pay for duplicate devices including maintenance.
According to the lower court ruling of the Düsseldorf district court, smoke detectors purchased jointly belong to the community and must therefore be maintained by the community.
Assuring the installation and maintenance of the entire building in one hand ensures a high degree of security, said the chair judge of the BGH Christina Stresemann. This minimizes insurance risks and is clearer for the administration. However, owner communities have a discretion, said Stresemann. "You do not have to decide that way."
Az. V ZR 273/17