Facts
The defendants, [F.A.] and [M.A.] , have been tenants of a 3½-room apartment in the property [C.] -strasse 74 in [D.] since 1986. The plaintiff, [B.] , informed the tenants in April 2001 about a planned comprehensive renovation of the property, which would include the renovation of the facade, the replacement of windows, shutters and awnings, as well as the extension of the existing window sill. In December 2001, the plaintiff announced a rent increase from CHF 1'659.- to CHF 1'805.-, which the defendants contested before the conciliation authority.
The Rent Court of the Meilen district partially declared the rent increase admissible and set the rent at CHF 1'761.75 net. The High Court of the Canton of Zurich partially overturned this judgment and set the rent at CHF 1'772.60 net. The defendants appealed against this decision.
Considerations
1. Admissibility of the rent increase
The defendants argue that the rent increase of December 14, 2001, is invalid, as not all relevant documents were available at the time of notification. The Federal Court denies this and states that Art. 14 para. 3 RRBPO does not require the landlord to wait for all relevant documents before announcing a rent increase.
2. Abusiveness of the rent increase
The defendants request, in the alternative, that the rent increase be declared abusive. They argue that only the passing on of costs for two types of work, namely facade and flat roof renovation, is at issue. The Federal Court denies this and states that the lower court rightly assumed a comprehensive…