Hallo All,
My landlord increased Gas price/ Heating, stating Ukraine war. Please help me to understand. Is this valid? Thank you.
It is and it’s not a rent increase. Copying myself from another post:
Nebenkosten is not a rent increase. Due to problems out of the landlords control (ukraine war, russian gas, price increases etc.) it is to be suspected that the Nebenkosten, mostly heating, will be a lot more expensive this year than usually. He is asking for an increase now, so you won’t be hit with a 3-4 digit sum to pay all at once at the end of the year, when the Betriebskostenabrechnung comes. The sum to be paid in total will be the same either way and the Betriebskostenabrechnung has to list exactly how much was paid.
Without knowing your contract it is not easy to say. Normally the rent is something different than the “Nebenkosten” which contain your consumption of energy, cleaning, chimney sweeper etc. Maybe contact a “Mieterverein” or “Verbraucherzentrale”.
You will pay it one way or the other. This is not rent, but part of your Nebenkosten. Your landlord can not demand that you pay more now, without having done the Abrechnung yet and send you a detailed list of costs and a bill, but you *will* pay the difference, either noe by agreeing to pay more staring in October or by getting a hefty bill sometime next year. It is up to you how to handle it: save money now every month to cover a significant bill next year when the Abrechnung/Nachzahlung comes, or pay more now and hope the bill won’t be that huge or you might even get some money back.
Also: this is a daily topic by now. Please people, inform yourselves on how rental contracts actually work and what costs you pay. Not everything you pay is actually “rent”. Use the search function, this has been explained dozens of times in the last few weeks now.
5 comments
Hallo All,
My landlord increased Gas price/ Heating, stating Ukraine war. Please help me to understand. Is this valid? Thank you.
It is and it’s not a rent increase. Copying myself from another post:
Nebenkosten is not a rent increase. Due to problems out of the landlords control (ukraine war, russian gas, price increases etc.) it is to be suspected that the Nebenkosten, mostly heating, will be a lot more expensive this year than usually. He is asking for an increase now, so you won’t be hit with a 3-4 digit sum to pay all at once at the end of the year, when the Betriebskostenabrechnung comes. The sum to be paid in total will be the same either way and the Betriebskostenabrechnung has to list exactly how much was paid.
Without knowing your contract it is not easy to say. Normally the rent is something different than the “Nebenkosten” which contain your consumption of energy, cleaning, chimney sweeper etc. Maybe contact a “Mieterverein” or “Verbraucherzentrale”.
You will pay it one way or the other. This is not rent, but part of your Nebenkosten. Your landlord can not demand that you pay more now, without having done the Abrechnung yet and send you a detailed list of costs and a bill, but you *will* pay the difference, either noe by agreeing to pay more staring in October or by getting a hefty bill sometime next year. It is up to you how to handle it: save money now every month to cover a significant bill next year when the Abrechnung/Nachzahlung comes, or pay more now and hope the bill won’t be that huge or you might even get some money back.
Also: this is a daily topic by now. Please people, inform yourselves on how rental contracts actually work and what costs you pay. Not everything you pay is actually “rent”. Use the search function, this has been explained dozens of times in the last few weeks now.
No it’s not