consumer
Energy prices: landlords want higher ancillary cost deductions
A heat cost allocator for calculating heating costs on a radiator. Landlords want higher ancillary cost deductions because of the increased energy prices. Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Gas and oil have become much more expensive. For tenants, this means: The next utility bill should be tough. But some landlords don’t wait that long.
The sharp rise in energy prices is a source of discussion between tenants and landlords.
In order to be able to pay oil, gas and district heating bills, the first landlords are now already pushing for higher monthly advance payments in the current accounting year, according to the German Tenants’ Association. The desire for higher discounts is being asked more and more often by tenants.
The owners’ association Haus und Grund registered in its consultations that the high costs are a concern for landlords: “In our associations, too, there are more and more inquiries about rising energy prices – for example about the question of when advance payments can be adjusted.”
The extent to which higher advance payments have already been agreed is unclear. “The desire is at least increasingly being approached by the tenants,” explained tenants’ association spokeswoman Jutta Hartmann. So far there is no knowledge of major conflicts.
Can the landlord demand higher advance payments?
Hartmann emphasized: “Landlords are not entitled to demand higher advance payments during the year. The landlord only has a claim to the payment of increased ancillary cost advance payments after the statement has been submitted.» Anyone who can should put money aside so that they can also pay.
“For everyone else, we need government support for the duration of the energy crisis,” the tenants’ association demanded. A moratorium on layoffs is also necessary. It should ensure that nobody who cannot pay their utility bills on time due to sharply increased heating costs may be terminated. Rental households should be given at least six months to settle their debts. Actually it’s 30 days.
Is a moratorium on layoffs a solution?
However, the landlords do not want to be responsible for the tenant’s consumption-related costs, as is the case with house and land. “In our view, there should not be a moratorium on dismissals,” said the association’s managing director, Alexander Wiech. “First of all, however, tenants and landlords should seek a conversation in order to find a solution – especially about higher advance payments.”
The first corona lockdown showed that solutions are possible between both sides without state intervention. Back then, more people were unemployed and hundreds of thousands switched to short-time work. According to the landlord, the rents continued to be paid reliably.