According to case law, a loggia is a space that is converted on at least five sides, which is usually cut into the building and whose open opening to the outside is delimited by a railing or a parapet. Such rooms must be included in the calculation of the usable area. A metal grid can also be considered a “conversion” within the meaning of case law.
Areas on which old tiled stoves are located must be included in the calculation of the usable areas. When determining the usable area, only floor areas and not room heights must be taken into account, so that beams generally have no restrictive effect.
Supreme Court 16.4.2024, 5 Ob 21/24k
The reason for termination of the irregular use of the rented apartment for residential purposes (Section 30 (2) Z 6 MRG) is not realized if the tenant or a person entitled to enter uses the apartment as an economic and family center for at least a considerable period of time during the year or a few days a week. This applies even if another apartment is being used or the apartment is temporarily unused due to working in the house or caring for relatives.
Supreme Court 25.6.2024, 4 Ob 113/24g
Every apartment owner can challenge decisions of the owners' association on grounds of unlawfulness, among other things. The Act does not intend to generally control the measures taken by ordinary administration by way of contesting a resolution, which is why the term “illegality” must be interpreted restrictively.
There is an infringement of mandatory WEG administrative rules and “blatant” violations of the principles of economy, efficiency and expediency of administration.
Supreme Court 21.5.2024, 5 Ob 59/24y
There is no need to apply a strict standard for assessing the lack of chances of success within the meaning of Art. 9 ARB 2018. It must be based on the yardstick or hurdles of the application for legal aid; there must therefore be no obvious hopelessness. This limit is reached when litigation can be recognized as unsuccessful without further examination of the means of attack or defense — for example in the event of indecision or in the event of an irreconcilable emergency of evidence.
Supreme Court 17.4.2024, 7 Ob 14/24w
In connection with the insurer's refusal to cover appeals against appeals, the Supreme Court ruled: The legal protection module”Bankruptcy law protection“In addition to covering the costs of filing a claim in insolvency proceedings, also includes”Disputes relating to insolvency law”. This second risk transfer goes beyond the actual insolvency proceedings and includes an appeal brought against the policyholder by the estate manager of an insolvent company as insolvency proceedings.
When the insurer in the legal protection module”Bankruptcy law protection“If the insurance coverage applies regardless of the general contract law protection agreement, this means from the point of view of the average policyholder that the upper dispute limit agreed for general contract law protection for the module”Bankruptcy law protection“is not applicable.
Supreme Court 17.4.2024, 7 Ob 14/24w
The contractor's business liability insurance generally does not cover the performance of the service required between client and contractor, as the entrepreneurial risk is not intended to be transferred to the insurer.
Business liability insurance also does not cover claims for the performance of contracts and compensation taking the place of performance (“performance surrogate”), nor does it cover warranty claims for defects. Warranty claims include not only the costs of remedying the defect itself, but also the costs of those preparatory measures that are necessary to remedy the defect. The policyholder's claim under business liability insurance is not the formal basis of claim on the basis of which the policyholder is claimed, but the content of the claim. Costs that the policyholder must incur in order to benefit the third party from the contractually promised service are not covered.
However, subsequent damage caused by a defect is covered.
Supreme Court 22.5.2024, 7 Ob 18/24h
In insurance companies, there is a core area of the service description, which is not subject to clause control within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act as its main subject matter. In any case, this applies to the type of insurance and insurance premium.
The pension selection clauses contained in unit-linked life insurance must regularly be qualified as ancillary contractual agreements. They are therefore subject, among other things, to control in accordance with Section 879 (3) of the Austrian Civil Code.
A pension selection clause that contains no or insufficiently specific information on the decisive parameters for calculating the pension is grossly disadvantaging within the meaning of Section 879 (3) of the Austrian Civil Code. However, the omission of such a clause does not result in the total invalidity of the contract, but it must be based on whether the insurance contract can also be valid without the clause.
Supreme Court 19.6.2024, 7 Ob 51/24m
According to Section 2 (1) last sentence MRG, the landlord enters into the tenancy relationship between the tenant or tenant of an entire house and its tenant when the tenancy agreement for the entire house is terminated. “Dissolution” means any form of termination of the rental agreement.
Parts of a house that form an economic unit, such as independent wings, can also be used as”whole house“Within the meaning of § 2 para. 1 MRG.
Supreme Court 24.9.2025, 3 Ob 87/25b
An easement contract can also be established through conclusive conduct within the meaning of Section 863 ABGB. However, this does not come about simply by tolerating a specific use of the serving property, but only when additional factual elements allow the conclusion that the legal will of the (in each case) encumbered as a result of a specific conduct referred to the granting of an easement as a right in rem. Since the establishment of a service amounts to a waiver of partial rights, strict requirements must in principle be imposed on the conclusive justification of the service. The burden of allegation and proof of the existence of an implied agreement to establish a servitut falls on the person who claims to be the beneficiary of servitude.
Supreme Court 29.9.2025, 4 Ob 31/25z
The agreement that satellite dishes, exterior windows and external doors as well as window shutters should belong to the respective residential property and not to the general parts of the property precludes the collection of residential property, as these are necessary general parts of the property.
Supreme Court 23.9.2025, 5 Ob 13/25k
In B2C business, price change clauses must be objectively justified in addition to the requirements of two-sidedness, contractual determination and independence from the will of the entrepreneur (Section 6 (1) Z 5 KSchG, which specifies Section 879 (3) of the Austrian Civil Code).
Linking the amount of rent to the development of the construction cost index is not factually justified in accordance with Section 6 (1) Z 5 KSchG and is therefore ineffective. In addition to financing costs and general company-related costs, such as for employees, office space, etc., maintenance costs are only part of the accruing costs for professional landlords. The construction cost index therefore only represents a fraction of the key cost factors for entrepreneurial landlords. In addition, maintenance and repair costs do not arise continuously and evenly throughout the rental period. Linking the value of rent to just one of several cost-relevant factors, such as maintenance costs, would distort the original equivalence ratio of benefits.
Supreme Court 10.9.2024, 10 Ob 23/24s
%20(1).avif)