What the tenant must maintain depends on what is agreed between the tenant and the landlord.
Unless otherwise agreed in the lease agreement, the only thing the tenant is obliged to maintain and possibly renew are locks and keys.
In the lease agreement, the landlord must specify whether the tenant or the landlord has the interior maintenance obligation. The interior maintenance obligation consists of whitewashing, painting, wallpapering and floor treatment.
If it has been agreed that the tenant has the interior maintenance obligation, the tenant must ensure that the lease is maintained on an ongoing basis. This means painting, etc. when required, so that traces of wear and tear are removed. When moving out, the landlord can demand that any lack of maintenance is carried out at the tenant’s expense. However, the tenant is never obliged to return the lease in a better condition when moving out than the condition the lease was in when the tenant moved in.
All maintenance other than listed above falls under the exterior maintenance obligation, even if it relates to conditions inside the apartment. Only in smaller properties (with 6 or fewer apartments) and in leases located in so-called unregulated municipalities (only a few smaller municipalities – not Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Aarhus or Odense), it can be agreed that a tenant should have a maintenance obligation in addition to “interior maintenance”.