!!!Mietrecht

Landlord and Tenant Law, regulates the relationship between landlord 
and tenant, especially with regard to residential buildings; in the 
ABGB, Allgemeines buergerliches Gesetzbuch - General Civil Code 
(§§ 1090-1121) defined as "transfer of use against 
payment". Whereas the ABGB provides freedom of contract claiming 
equality of tenant and landlord, the current law contains many, mostly 
coercive, provisions designed to protect tenants (Law of tenancy 1981, 
as amended by the 3%%sup rd/%  WohnrechtsaenderungsGesetz (Amendment 
of the Law on Residential Rights) Federal Law Gazette 1993/800), which 
have overruled the ABGB provisions. Its main points are a system of 
ceiling prices in the form of standard rates with surcharges and 
discounts, and protection against eviction: The landlord can only give 
notice for important reasons such as personal use (i.e. if s/he needs 
the premises for him/herself or his/her family) or default in rental 
payments (§ 30 MRG, Law of tenancy). Security of tenure 
applies only to certain kinds of homes (according to their size and 
year of building); what makes the subject even more complicated is the 
fact that amendments of the law never interfere with existing 
contracts and that a tenant´s family members have the right to 
take over tenancy from the tenant. The field of "Housing and 
Accommodation" as a political issue has been further fragmented as 
more and more homes have been bought as private property and as 
co-operative societies and the public authorities have started 
dominating the market as builders or landlords.

\\
The present-day situation is for the most part the result of 
developments in the past: In the 19%%sup th/%  century urban growth 
and the increase in the number of workers as tenants caused excess 
demand and an extreme housing shortage. Protection of tenants was not 
common until World War I and mainly served to stabilise internal 
relations (protection of families of conscripted soldiers, civil 
servants). In 1917 regulations for the protection of tenants were 
issued prohibiting rent increases for small flats in certain areas up 
to the end of the war. In order to preclude circumvention, no landlord 
was allowed to give notice without sufficient reason. As the economic 
situation in post-war years was extremely unfavourable, the protective 
regulations remained in force; inflation decreased rent returns, in 
particular as rent increases were still forbidden. In 1922 the Rent 
Act (Mieten-Gesetz) introducing the "Friedenskrone" (Peace-time Rent) 
was enacted as a political compromise; protection against eviction 
remained in force. Partial reforms carried out during the 1%%sup st/%  
and 2%%sup nd/%  Republics did not affect the substance of the 
provisions governing tenancy. It was not until the Law of Tenancy was 
adopted in 1981 (Mietrechts-Gesetz 1981) that fundamental changes took 
place, since then rents have been assessed according to quality 
categories; until then the Rent Act from 1929 was still in effect. 
Despite numerous efforts, there is still a need for reform, which is 
indicated by the shortage of flats on the one hand and a large number 
of empty buildings on the other, while still others are overcrowded; 
moreover, people looking for accommodation as well as people without 
adequate financial means remain at an enormous disadvantage.

!Literature
H. Wuerth and K. Zingher, Wohnrecht ´94, 1994; M. 
Stampfer, Die Entwicklung des Mieterschutzes in Oesterreich, 1995.


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