A six-room flat in Aarhus is the focal point of a landlord/tenant dispute so complicated that the owners of the property have been given permission to take the case to the supreme court, Højesteret.

The dispute centres around four tenants of the flat who refused to move out when a couple took over the ownership in 2014 and informed them they wanted to renovate the property and then move in with their children.

The lawyer for the couple said the root of the dispute lies in the interpretation of the law surrounding the termination of a lease.

Legalese the disease
The tenants argue that because they rented single rooms, the owners are not able to simply terminate the lease with a year’s notice and move in themselves, which is the case for owners who have not previously lived in the building.

The dispute, they claims, falls under a different provision.

“The couple had obviously read up the law and thought that they could terminate the tenants’ leases and use the apartment themselves,” the couple’s lawyer Peter Hyldahl Ebbesen told TV2 Nyheder.

Lower courts say tenants are right
The tenants’ refusal to move has been held up in the lower courts, which agreed that renting a single room gives them different rights.

According to Ebbesen, the outcome of the case could have repercussions for landlords across the country.