Maintenance for Health and Safety

We want our tenants to be healthy and safe, and to stay with us over the long term. That is why Vonovia aims to manage its portfolio efficiently and to make it optimal and livable for customers. With this in mind, preserving the fabric of buildings and ensuring the quality of the living space itself are of great importance.

We define maintenance as all regular and long-term planned economic expenditure with the goal of preserving the fabric of the building. We do not offload these costs onto rent prices. You can find more information in our 2022 Annual Report under Details on results of operations by segment.

Health & Safety

The health and safety of our employees are among our highest priorities. Our focus is always on risk prevention. Health and safety also play an important role in the personal well-being of our customers, and a subjective sense of safety is also decisive in establishing this feeling.

We make sure that places in our portfolio that might make people feel ill at ease – such as unlit parking lots or paths – are eliminated and that all paths, parking lots, entryways and hallways are sufficiently lit. We also offer security solutions to improve burglary protection, such as reinforced bolts and safer front doors.

We reduce the risk of danger permanently by strictly complying with all the requirements for road safety and fire protection, and by preventing and combating mold growth and legionella outbreaks. This includes, for example, measures such as preparing fire protection concepts, property inspections, regular checks on building safety in compliance with building regulations, checks for hazardous substances, hiring experts to optimize construction measures in the portfolio or preventing and controlling mold growth – for example by providing information on proper ventilation, but also by reacting quickly in the event of a hazard.

We carefully select materials that meet modern standards for our construction work. This means that we exclusively use safe materials in our apartments and take meticulous care to prevent mold. If mold should be discovered in one of our apartments despite our meticulous care, the technical service immediately eliminates the mold and launches prevention measures.

Our product manual contains information regarding the materials that we regularly use in the refurbishment and maintenance work in our properties. There are clear specifications and strict quality standards in place for material selection. We expect our subcontractors to fully adhere to all of our product guidelines so that we can ensure all measures exhibit the same quality. With the requirements laid out in the product manual, we are able to respond quickly to changes in the law and make the corresponding adjustments (see Sustainable Materials and Products).

In the residential environment, we ensure structural facilities are maintained and improved, for example by repairing and replacing playground equipment, conducting regular inspections of the open spaces and ensuring that tree care work is carried out in a professionally correct and safe manner (see Key Figures Portfolio Security). We initiate measures immediately on identifying defects or risks in order to prevent accidents in open spaces on our properties.

Reducing Noise Pollution

Noise in our neighborhoods can come from a variety of sources. But whatever the source, noise always has a negative impact on our tenants’ well-being. We want our tenants to live with as little noise pollution as possible, and therefore install sound-proof windows along streets with heavy traffic, for example.

Complaints are often made about noise caused by other tenants. In these situations, Vonovia acts as mediator and strives to find a solution that is mutually acceptable to both parties. House rules in different languages serve to create a common understanding of living together.

Noise caused by construction work cannot be prevented. We aim to foster understanding for this among residents by announcing construction as early as possible at tenant meetings and during office hours as well as through tenant parties (see Dialogue with Tenants and Participation). We endeavor to keep the disturbances caused by construction work as low as possible, because in certain cases, such as vertical expansions, apartments in the building remain occupied by tenants.

In terms of the negative impacts of noise and pollution, modular approaches for new construction work are a good approach, as it enables us to keep construction times to a minimum as the prefabricated residential modules only need to be put together by our technicians and finalized with interior fittings.