COMMERCIAL TENANCY LAW In March 2015, the Federal Court of Justice for residential tenancy law decided that the standard passing on of the obligation to carry out ongoing cosmetic repairs was invalid if the tenant was provided the residence in an unrenovated condition or in a condition that required renovation and the tenant received no compensation therefor. The Celle Higher Regional Court has now applied this case law to a commercial tenancy agreement in its judgement dated 13/07/2016. According to the court, such a clause results in the tenant being obligated to remove all traces of use existing in the rental property on handover without receiving any compensation. This could result in the tenant renovating the areas prematurely or having to return the premises in a better condition than the tenant received them from the landlord. In this regard, the tenant of the commercial premises does not have a lower protection requirement than a residential tenant.
