Broken window in a rented apartment

I need help...

a few weeks ago, I was cleaning the house when I noticed that the living room window is cracked from the base of the frame and spreading upwards (was about 10cm in the beginning but it's now twice that size). I called the landlord today and his wife answered and told me he wasn't in so I explained a bit of what has happened (in my crap broken German - matches the window). She got right snotty with me and basically said that I had done it and it was my fault. So I said that it was nothing to do with anything I have done and she said that she would get her husband to call back. This is a landlord who I haven't seen or had contact with since I moved in and didn't even want to know when I said that I had opened a Sparkonto for the Kaution (I still have that and the paperwork and he doesn't want to know).

Anyway, he came to have a look tonight and said he has nothing to do with it. Reckons he will get in touch with someone about a new window and tell me the cost and it's up to me.

It says this in my contract:

Der Mieter haftet für alle Schäden, die dem Vermieter oder Dritten aus Maßnahmen gem.Ziffer 1. entstehen, ohne dass es des Nachweises des Verschuldens bedarf

but there is no real Kleinreparaturklausel in my contract.

Looks like I'm down the river without a paddle (no insurance - I know, don't tell me off) and it's a friggin' big window.

Can you prove it was there when you moved in? Usually you gotta do an inspection with the LL/HM and both sign it before you move in,
and again when you leave. Otherwise, yup, your boned... I'd start looking for insurance now, it's only like 200 Eur a year and an xtra 50
or so a year for special Glass insurance. At least with the company I went thru.

The cost is not up to you if you or your guest didn't cause it. Tell the fucker to prove that you or one of your guests caused it and go talk to the mieter verein tomorrow.

I have heard of glas doing this in the extreme heat.. this is usually cause by the Pane being too tight in the frame.. this is difficult to apportion blame though...

An expert could determine in a heartbeat how the glass broke. That is until the whole thing falls out of the frame due to shattering regardless of the cause of the initial break. It is nearly, if not completely, impossible for someone to break a mounted glass plate from the side unless there was already a weakness there.

If it is not in the original contract, i.e. the apartment inventory and notes regarding the inventory, then you pay for any repair. That is why you go around the apartment with the landlord confirming all imperfections and anything that may not be in the contract. That is just the way it is.

You will have a hard time proving it was there at the beginning if it is not documented from the beginning. You should have done a light repair and not said anything

Sorry but i agree, that's why you look round the place before you move in. harsh lesson but true, good luck in trying to prove it wasn't your fault