Despite tenant objections, a German landlord has secured the right to sunbathe without clothes in the courtyard of his own Frankfurt property.

According to Frankfurt's highest regional court, the landlord, who has not been named, resorted to legal action after a human resources firm renting premises in the building withheld payments due to his passion for sunbathing naked in a shared courtyard area.

The firm, which has yet to be recognized, had cut and partially withheld payments for office space in a residential building in the city's upmarket neighbourhood.

It was said that the landlord would walk naked from the stairwell to the courtyard, where "any resident or visitor who occurred to be on the stairs at the time would be confronted with his nakedness."


The court stated that a legal team that visited the site did not discover that to be the case. "On the contrary, the plaintiff had honestly stated that he always wore a bathrobe, which he only took off precisely in front of the sunbed," the ruling read.

The court favoured the landlord, ruling that the plaintiff's nakedness in the courtyard did not damage the property's usability.

It went on to say that "aesthetic sensibilities were irrelevant," and that there had been no "grossly improper act." Furthermore, the location where the landlord sunbathed uncovered was only visible from the office rooms if the HR staff "leaned far out the window," according to the ruling.

Nonetheless, the court determined that the tenants were entitled to a three-month payment reduction due to extensive noisy construction work in the neighbourhood. It stated that the dust and noise justified a 15% reduction, but not because of "offending another's aesthetic sensibilities."

Freikoerperkultur (or FKK), which translates to "free body culture" and dates back to the late 1800s, is popular in Germany, with many individuals sunbathing naked at lakes, beaches, and even on their balconies.

There are over 600,000 Germans registered in over 300 private nudist or FKK clubs, with an additional 14 linked clubs in Austria.