Jun 01, 2022 | Right
Retirement and nursing home residents are not allowed to reduce the home fee due to ordered exit and contact restrictions in the course of the corona pandemic. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe declared in a decision announced on June 1, 2022 that those affected could continue to use the contractually agreed care and support services as core services of the care contract despite the restrictions. (AZ: III ZR 240/21)
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According to the BGH, residents of old people’s and nursing homes are not allowed to reduce the home fee because of ordered exit and contact restrictions in the course of the corona pandemic.
Photo: AdobeStock/nmann
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In this specific case, it was about a woman in need of care from the Amberg area in Bavaria. Since 2017 she has been housed as a full in-patient with care grade 3 in a senior citizens’ residential and nursing home. Because of the corona pandemic, her son brought her home on March 19, 2020. The reason was the officially ordered visit and exit restrictions in old people’s and nursing homes, as reported by epd.
However, the woman kept the room in the nursing home. For the months of May to August 2020, she only paid a small part of the home wages. Instead of paying the monthly fee of 3,294 euros or 3,344 euros for the month of August, she only transferred a total of 1,162 euros. After an unsuccessful reminder, the home operator terminated the care contract “for good cause” on August 31, 2020.
The district court in Amberg sentenced the woman to pay a flat rate of 8,877 euros for saved expenses and to clear the home room. The woman wanted to file a non-admission appeal with the Federal Court of Justice against the decision, but she could not find a lawyer who was registered with the court to represent her. So she asked for an attorney.
However, the Supreme Court dismissed the application. There is “obviously” no reason for the approval of the revision. There is “undoubtedly no entitlement to a reduction in the home allowance due to official exit and contact restrictions”. The home operator continued to provide its contractually agreed care and support services and thus “fully provided” the core services of the care contract.
With the corona-related restrictions, the basis of business between the parties has not changed significantly, according to the BGH. Rather, these served to protect the health of the residents and home workers, “without questioning the purpose of the contract”. Sticking to the unchanged maintenance contract was therefore reasonable.
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