German top court rules apartment owners can install air conditioning against majority vote

Germany's highest civil court has strengthened the hand of individual apartment owners seeking to cool their homes, ruling that a Berlin family's wish to install a split air conditioning unit on their balcony must be permitted. The decision, handed down by the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) in Karlsruhe on 17 July 2026, clarifies that future operating noise alone is not grounds for prohibition.

The Berlin case that reached Karlsruhe

The case began in Berlin, where a family owning an apartment in a multi-family building planned several alterations, including mounting a split AC unit on their balcony. The condominium owners' association rejected their application in December 2023. Opponents argued that noise, condensate water, and warm exhaust air could disturb other residents and reduce the rental and sales value of neighbouring flats. The family sued. Initially, the Amtsgericht Berlin-Pankow dismissed their claim, but the Landgericht Berlin overturned that ruling and granted permission subject to specific conditions regarding execution, casing, and operation of the device.

The operation of an air conditioning unit must be tolerated within certain limits.

The owners' association appealed the Berlin regional court decision to the BGH, contending that well-known effects of running AC units posed a serious risk of diminishing neighbouring property values. The BGH, however, backed the lower court's reasoning: only consequences directly linked to the installation itself are relevant, not those arising from later use.

Noise and the limits of majority rule

Under normal rules, structural modifications such as fixed split systems that require drilling through the facade must be approved by the owners' association. Should the majority vote no, a court may nonetheless grant permission if all affected owners consent or if there is no excessive impairment. The presiding judge, Bettina Brückner, stated that an assessment must be made. The court made clear that the sounds a device produces during operation are per se no reason to bar installation.

The operation of an air conditioning unit must be tolerated within certain limits.

Local noise limits still apply once the unit is running, and neighbours retain the right to take legal action against unacceptable noise. The ruling does not give owners carte blanche: installations must be carried out professionally and must not cause unreasonable disturbances or significant disadvantages for others.

A parallel ruling and a growing market

The judgment echoes a BGH decision from the previous year, when the majority of an owners' association voted in favour of installing an AC unit and a single owner sued to block it. The BGH dismissed that challenge, ruling that only direct structural impacts matter when assessing validity, not feared noise from later use. The cumulative message is clear: the court increasingly treats cooling as a legitimate adaptation to a warming climate.

Demand for home air conditioning in Germany is climbing steeply. A representative YouGov survey cited by DIE WELT shows about 17% of people now have an AC unit at home, up from 15% in July 2025, while 20% plan to acquire one (up from 10% a year earlier). Sales of room air conditioners, predominantly split units, rose from roughly 260,000 to 320,000 units between 2023 and 2025, according to the Fachverband Gebäude-Klima. Figures for 2026 are not yet available but further growth is anticipated.

Implications for heat pumps and community life

The ruling is also good news for owners wanting to install heat pumps, which often double as air conditioners and face similar resistance from neighbours or associations citing noise concerns. DIE WELT notes the broader societal point: climate change is a fact, and necessary adaptations come with unavoidable costs, both private and public. Yet the editorial also laments that such disputes reach the nation's highest civil judges at all, arguing that a civilised society ought to resolve these conflicts without lawyers and courts. The hope is that the judgment will prompt associations and landlords to plan communal heating and cooling solutions proactively, though the likelier outcome is that further litigation will follow as the line between tolerable and excessive impairment is tested case by case.