Who pays for repairs in a rented home, by country
The table sets the landlord’s statutory duty to keep a home fit for use beside the tenant’s share. Every country puts the main duty on the landlord, but only Spain, the Netherlands and Norway name small repairs or listed fittings the tenant must do at their own cost, while Austria limits the tenant to servicing installations and Canada to cleaning and damage the tenant causes. Norway and Sweden make most of the split a default that a contract can replace, and Sweden even gives the landlord the decorating of a flat that has aged through use.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Landlord’s duty | Tenant’s duty | Can a contract change it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Keep the property in usable condition at the landlord’s own cost; keep the house and flats at the usual local standard | Service and maintain the flat and its gas, water, heating and sanitary installations so that no one else suffers; serious damage to the house is excluded | |
| Canada | Provide and maintain the home in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, and comply with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards | Ordinary cleanliness, and repair of undue damage caused by the tenant’s wilful or negligent conduct | Cleaning only: the landlord can agree to clean. The repair duty applies even if the tenant knew of the disrepair |
| Germany | Hand over the home in a condition fit for use and keep it in that condition during the tenancy | Report any defect that appears during the tenancy to the landlord without delay | |
| Spain | All repairs needed to keep the home habitable for the agreed use, without raising the rent | Small repairs caused by ordinary wear from normal use | |
| Netherlands | Fix defects when the tenant asks, unless that is impossible or costs more than can reasonably be expected of the landlord | Do small repairs at the tenant’s own cost, unless they became necessary because the landlord failed to fix a defect | |
| Norway | Keep the home and the property in the condition the tenant is entitled to under chapter 2 | Maintain door locks, taps, toilets, electrical sockets and switches, water heaters and loose fittings; test and clean smoke alarms and fire extinguishers | Yes: both duties apply “unless otherwise agreed” |
| Sweden | Keep the flat in the agreed condition and, for a home, arrange decorating and customary repairs at reasonable intervals for wear from age and use | Take good care of the flat and pay for all damage caused by the tenant’s own fault or that of household members and guests | Yes: the landlord’s duty applies “unless otherwise agreed” |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- ABGB § 1096(1); Mietrechtsgesetz §§ 3(1), 8(1)
- The ABGB rule applies to tenancies generally; the Mietrechtsgesetz adds the usual-local-standard duty for the tenancies it covers.
- The tenant must report serious damage to the house to the landlord without delay (§ 8(1)). The quoted text does not say whether a contract may change the split, so that column is left empty.
das Bestandstück auf eigene Kosten in brauchbarem Stande zu übergeben und zu erhalten im jeweils ortsüblichen Standard erhalten und erhebliche Gefahren für die Gesundheit der Bewohner beseitigt werden soweit es sich nicht um die Behebung von ernsten Schäden des Hauses oder um die Beseitigung einer erheblichen Gesundheitsgefährdung handelt, so instand zu halten, daß dem Vermieter und den anderen Mietern des Hauses kein Nachteil erwächst Canada
- Rule
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Ontario) ss. 20, 33, 34
- Ontario residential tenancies only. Another province has its own statute.
- The tenant’s repair duty reaches damage caused by another occupant or a person the tenant permitted into the complex, not ordinary wear.
A landlord is responsible for providing and maintaining a residential complex, including the rental units in it, in a good state of repair and fit for habitation and for complying with health, safety, housing and maintenance standards.Subsection (1) applies even if the tenant was aware of a state of non-repair or a contravention of a standard before entering into the tenancy agreement. The tenant is responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the rental unit, except to the extent that the tenancy agreement requires the landlord to clean it. The tenant is responsible for the repair of undue damage to the rental unit or residential complex caused by the wilful or negligent conduct of the tenant, another occupant of the rental unit or a person permitted in the residential complex by the tenant. Germany
- Rule
- BGB §§ 535(1), 536c(1)
- The ingested tenancy sections do not say which small repairs or decorating the tenant bears, so the tenant column covers only the duty to report. Nothing here should be read as saying the tenant owes no repairs.
- A tenant who fails to report a defect owes damages and loses the rent-reduction rights for the time the landlord could not act (§ 536c(2)).
Der Vermieter hat die Mietsache dem Mieter in einem zum vertragsgemäßen Gebrauch geeigneten Zustand zu überlassen und sie während der Mietzeit in diesem Zustand zu erhalten. so hat der Mieter dies dem Vermieter unverzüglich anzuzeigen Spain
- Rule
- Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, art. 21(1) and (4)
- The landlord is excused where the damage is attributable to the tenant under articles 1563 and 1564 of the Código Civil, and where the home is destroyed through no fault of the landlord.
- The tenant must tell the landlord of needed repairs as soon as possible (art. 21(3)). The article does not say whether the parties may agree otherwise.
El arrendador está obligado a realizar, sin derecho a elevar por ello la renta, todas las reparaciones que sean necesarias para conservar la vivienda en las condiciones de habitabilidad para servir al uso convenidoLas pequeñas reparaciones que exija el desgaste por el uso ordinario de la vivienda serán de cargo del arrendatario. Netherlands
- Rule
- Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 206(1)-(2) and 217
- The landlord also need not fix a defect the tenant is liable to the landlord for (art. 206(2)).
- The statute does not define which repairs are small. The quoted articles do not say whether a contract may change the split.
De verhuurder is verplicht op verlangen van de huurder gebreken te verhelpen, tenzij dit onmogelijk is of uitgaven vereist die in de gegeven omstandigheden redelijkerwijs niet van de verhuurder zijn te vergen. De huurder is verplicht te zijnen koste de kleine herstellingen te verrichten, tenzij deze nodig zijn geworden door het tekortschieten van de verhuurder in de nakoming van zijn verplichting tot het verhelpen van gebreken. Norway
- Rule
- Husleieloven § 5-3
- Repair of accidental damage does not count as the tenant’s maintenance under the second paragraph.
- If an item belonging to the landlord has to be replaced, the cost falls on the landlord unless agreed otherwise.
Er ikke annet avtalt, plikter utleieren i leietiden å holde utleid husrom og eiendommen for øvrig i den stand som leieren har krav på etter reglene i lovens kapittel 2.Er ikke annet avtalt, plikter leieren å vedlikeholde dørlåser, kraner, vannklosetter, elektriske kontakter og brytere, varmtvannsbeholdere og inventar og utstyr i husrommet som ikke er en del av den faste eiendommen. Sweden
- Rule
- Jordabalk 12 kap. 15 § and 24 §
- The decorating duty can be agreed away only for a single-family house or an owner-apartment, or where the lease has a negotiation clause and the different terms are in a negotiation agreement.
- The tenant must tell the landlord at once of damage or defects that must be fixed immediately to avoid serious inconvenience.
Under hyrestiden ska hyresvärden hålla lägenheten i sådant skick som anges i 9 § första stycket, om inte något annat har avtalats eller följer av andra stycket.ska hyresvärden i bostadsdelen med skäliga tidsmellanrum ombesörja tapetsering, målning och andra sedvanliga reparationer med anledning av lägenhetens försämring genom ålder och bruk. Hyresgästen skall under hyrestiden väl vårda lägenheten med vad därtill hör.Han är skyldig att ersätta all skada som uppkommer genom hans vållande Countries not in this table yet
Japan and the United Kingdom are not shown: the ingested Shakuchi-Shakuya-ho and Housing Act 2004 contain no repair-allocation rule between landlord and tenant. The United States, Australia and France are not covered by an ingested tenancy statute.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
Use this data
The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
How to cite this page
LawAsked, “Who pays for repairs in a rented home, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/repairs-responsibility (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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