Window cleaning in apartment buildings: who cleans, who pays?

Who actually cleans the windows in the stairwell? And who cleans the large glass areas you cannot reach from inside the flat? In apartment buildings this question regularly leads to discussions — between tenants, landlords and owners’ associations. Yet it can usually be answered clearly by distinguishing three kinds of windows.

1. The windows of your own flat

Windows that belong to the flat and can be opened and cleaned safely from inside are cleaned by the tenant — inside and out. That is part of the normal care of the rented property. They are not passed on through the service charges, because cleaning your own flat is not an operating cost.

2. Windows in shared areas

Windows in the stairwell, corridors, basement or laundry room belong to the parts of the building used jointly by the residents. Cleaning them counts as building cleaning under § 2 No. 9 BetrKV — the ordinance expressly names cleaning the parts of the building used jointly by residents, such as access ways, corridors and stairs. If the landlord has a service provider do it, the costs can be passed on to the tenants, provided the tenancy agreement allows for it (§ 556 (1) BGB).

Alternatively, the house rules can assign stairwell cleaning to the tenants in rotation. How well that works usually shows in exactly these windows: they are the first thing forgotten. More in Stairwell cleaning: cycle and checklist.

3. Glass you cannot reach safely

Large fixed glazing, skylights, glass roofs or windows that do not open: here the situation is more difficult. Nobody is obliged to put themselves in danger to clean windows. What can only be reached with a ladder, aerial platform or rope access is in practice usually commissioned by the landlord or the association. Whether and how these costs may be passed on depends on the individual case and the tenancy agreement — if in doubt, it is worth checking current case law or taking advice.

How often should stairwell windows be cleaned?

There is no legal requirement. In practice, two to four cleanings a year have proven themselves for stairwell windows — more often if the building is on a busy road or there is a lot of leaf litter and pollen. One date in spring and one in autumn makes sense.

In an owners’ association

Stairwell windows and shared glass areas are common property. How often and by whom they are cleaned is set by the owners by resolution or through the cleaning contract (§ 19 (1) WEG). Each owner, or their tenant, cleans the windows of the individual flat.

How Zamsa helps

Windows and window sills in the stairwell and shared rooms are a fixed part of our building cleaning — in the agreed cycle and with a report for every visit, so the service-charge statement can be backed up towards tenants.