Nadja-Maria leitet unser Inhouse-Juristen-Team. Sie studierte an der Universität Passau Rechtswissenschaften mit anschließendem Referendariat sowie erstem und zweitem Staatsexamen. Ihr Spezialgebiet ist Datenschutzrecht. Ihr fundiertes Wissen hält sie jederzeit aktuell. Für unsere Kunden und unser Team hat sie so immer einen Rat für eine passgenaue Lösung parat.
Basic rules of the GDPR for landlords
Collect and use only necessary data
In most cases, rental contracts are concluded for an indefinite period of time or leases with a term of several years are quite common, especially in the area of residential rental. Against this background, it is understandable that landlords would like to obtain extensive information about potential tenants. In particular, information on the financial situation is often part of the query from the landlord in order to reduce financial risks from the tenancy.
However, landlords must not disregard the potential tenants’ right to informational self-determination. Therefore, with each requested information, it is important to pay attention to whether the knowledge is necessary for the landlord.
Note the voluntary nature of a declaration of consent
In the tenancy, too, as explained above, the necessity of data processing must be strictly observed. Especially with regard to the legal bases Art. 6 Para. 1 lit b GDPR (initiation and fulfillment of the lease) and Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest of the landlord) there are narrow limits here.
It could therefore make sense to base some data processing operations on the consent of the (potential) tenant under data protection law.
But caution is advised here. The voluntary consent of the person concerned is also important in the tenancy. Especially when applying for a rental apartment, this voluntariness can be disputed if tenants are urgently dependent on a rental apartment for personal reasons.