High energy costs: But no tenants being kicked out at Vonovia?

Rolf Buch has now confirmed that Vonovia will not terminate tenants in connection with high energy costs. The Vonovia boss is trying to smooth the waves that he himself raised.

“With us, nobody will lose an apartment just because the heating costs cannot be paid.” With this statement, Vonovia CEO Rolf Buch can be quoted today in the newspaper “Welt”. Buch also promised the Reuters news agency: “It will not be terminated.”

They are slightly modified versions of his tweet from last week: “Nobody has to worry about losing their apartment because of increased utility costs.” The fact that Buch now feels compelled to repeat this statement several times shows the seriousness of the situation. It is the reaction to a wave of outrage that recently swept over Germany’s largest housing group.

Last resort termination?

But first things first: The Bochum group, which owns more than 490,000 apartments throughout Germany, published documents for an investor day yesterday. These documents made it clear that Vonovia wants to terminate tenants who do not meet their payment obligations, for example for the sharply increased additional costs, if necessary: ​​”Last resort: sending out the eviction notice,” Vonovia makes very clear.

Tenant protectors reacted with horror to this announcement. “To rush forward in such a situation and to announce it publicly, if in doubt we will also quit – that’s really a strong piece,” said Aichard Hoffmann from the Bochum Tenants’ Association.

If the rent is two months in arrears, there is a risk of an eviction action

In the case of rent arrears, the phased model that Vonovia presented yesterday initially provides that the Group contacts the tenants to find out the reasons for the non-payment. In view of the increased energy costs, some tenants may also be entitled to state aid; Vonovia is therefore informing the tenants how they can get hold of them. The next steps are formal payment requests and then termination.

In the Investor Day documents, arrears amounting to the value of two months’ rent were mentioned as the limit that could trigger an eviction lawsuit.

Rent increase plans: Politicians put pressure on them

So how are Buch’s public statements, that no tenant has to fear being evicted, to be evaluated, especially in the context of the investor documents? It is probably primarily about attempts at appeasement, with which the Vonovia boss is trying to calm things down.

Incidentally, it would not be the first time that the Vonovia boss first rushed forward with bold statements and then rowed back. It was only in June that Buch suggested that rents should be linked to the inflation rate, and this caused horror and irritation not only among tenants. Under pressure from politics, however, Buch quickly caved in.

Nationalization debate boils up again

In general, the manager is under great pressure, as he also has to counter the expropriation debate that has been smoldering for a long time. The high energy costs and their consequences for tenants recently fueled the discussion about the nationalization of Germany’s largest housing group.

The times of high (price) gains and lavish dividends that Vonovia has made available to its shareholders in recent years and that also fueled the expropriation debate should be over for the time being. Vonovia shares fell to EUR 20.98 yesterday. It marked its lowest level in seven years. Since the beginning of the year alone, it has lost over 60 percent of its value.