Status: 02/16/2022 3:46 p.m
The traffic light coalition wants to relieve tenants more. The distribution of CO2 heating costs between tenants and landlords is to be reorganized with a phased model.
With a phased model, the federal government wants to redefine the distribution of CO2 heating costs between tenants and landlords. This emerges from a joint paper by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Construction, which is available to the German Press Agency. According to information from the AFP news agency, the phased model is to be discussed in the cabinet on March 16.
So far, the tenants bear the costs alone. That should change now. In the future, the share with which landlords participate will depend on how climate-friendly the building is. The tier model provides for buildings to be divided into seven tiers – depending on the level of CO2 emissions per square meter per year.
In the lowest and thus most climate-friendly level with emissions of less than five kilograms of CO2, the tenants would have to bear the entire cost of heating. At the highest level, which includes poorly renovated and poorly insulated buildings with more than 45 kilograms of CO2 emissions per square meter, tenants would only have to bear ten percent of the costs.
Phased plan to come on June 1st
“Overall, the aim is that tenants pay no more than half of the costs for CO2 pricing across all rented buildings,” the paper says. Landlords who have already reduced the CO2 emissions of the building through energy modernization should be charged less in percentage terms. The aim of the phased plan is to set incentives for renovations and good energy quality in apartments.
A corresponding plan is already laid down in the coalition agreement between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. Accordingly, on June 1, 2022, a tiered model based on building energy classes is to be introduced. If this is not possible in terms of time, half of the increased costs due to the CO2 price will be shared between landlord and tenant from June 1, 2022.
Owners’ association announces constitutional complaint
The Haus & Grund owners’ association announced that a constitutional complaint would be examined if the federal government were to burden landlords with the CO2 costs in whole or in part. If the government wants to relieve the burden on citizens, the best form would be climate money that is the same for all citizens. In a transitional phase, the federal government could suspend the CO2 price on heating energy, Warnecke suggested.
Since 2021, a CO2 price in the transport and heating sectors has made fossil fuels such as oil and gas more expensive. The price increases gradually year after year. For the apartment, this means that heating with an old oil heating system, for example, becomes more expensive.