For many, the past year ended with a bad letter. Traditionally, landlords quickly send out the operating or additional cost statement for the previous year between Christmas and New Year. In the event of an additional payment, tenants only have to pay it if they have received the statement by the end of the following year.
This means: Anyone who receives the billing for 2022 after December 31, 2023 does not have to make any additional payment. This also applies if the landlord doesn’t post the letter until late in the evening. “According to case law, tenants no longer have to expect to receive mail after 6 p.m. The bill is then considered not to have been delivered,” explains Anja Franz, consultant and press spokeswoman for the Munich Tenants’ Association. Since New Year’s Eve 2023 fell on a Sunday, i.e. not a working day, the deadline passed on December 30th.
If landlords miss this deadline, they still have to submit a statement. If it turns out that tenants have made excessive advance payments with their rent, they are entitled to the credit payment in any case.
Tenant advocates and lawyers recommend that you definitely check the billing. Mistakes creep in more often than many might believe. “Tenants should be skeptical if a position has increased significantly compared to the previous year,” says Franz. This could be the first sign of a mistake.
However, there is a special feature in the bills for 2022: “Heating costs in particular rose sharply that year due to the war in Ukraine,” says the consultant. “Just because the amount required for heating is significantly higher doesn’t mean it’s a mistake.”
But how do tenants find out whether this is all correct? “You always have the right to inspect the invoices,” says Franz. So if you are concerned, you can ask the landlord to inspect the invoice – for any questionable item on the bill. The owner must comply with this request. Tenants do not have a right to copies of the bills per se. They can only request copies if the landlord lives very far away.
Tenants should always take a closer look at the following points:
Anyone who has completed the first year in their new apartment and fishes the bill out of the mailbox should, if in doubt, take another look at the rental agreement. Some landlords agree on a flat rate for additional costs in a contract. If this is the case, tenants do not have to make any additional payment, but they also do not receive any credit. If the rental agreement does not provide for a flat rate or an advance payment, tenants do not have to pay anything.
Unfortunately, this does not apply: costs for heating and hot water must always be billed based on your needs. No flat rates are allowed for this, no matter what the rental agreement says.
Is the address correct? Is the apartment okay? Is the distribution key correct? Tenants should check all of these points in their billing. Errors can creep in, especially with the distribution key. The key determines how the general costs incurred are billed among several tenants. These are, for example, costs for the elevator, stairwell cleaning, hallway lights and so on. What the distribution key looks like is stated in the rental agreement. Billing is usually based on the number of apartments, the living space or the size of the household.
Landlords are not allowed to bill, for example, repairs, administration costs, acquisition costs for garbage containers or costs that were only caused by another tenant. If costs for a caretaker are being billed, it is worth taking a closer look. “If, for example, the caretaker carries out a repair, tenants do not have to pay for this working time,” says expert Franz. The same applies if a gardening service is listed on the bill, but the caretaker also takes on these activities. “That would be double billing and is also inadmissible.” If the costs for the caretaker, for example, are particularly high, tenants can defend themselves – even as a community. So-called operating cost tables provide an indication of which costs are still within limits. Tenant protection associations, for example, publish these regularly.
There is a special feature for the bills from 2022: the December aid. Due to the sharp rise in heat costs, the federal government decided that tenants whose house is supplied centrally by gas or district heating do not have to pay a deduction for December. The landlord must pass this relief on to the tenants. If the costs for fuels such as oil, coal or pellets have doubled compared to 2021, December aid will also apply here.
Landlords had to apply for this relief by October 20, 2023. But what if that didn’t happen? “Since the December aid is still new, there is no case law on this. However, we at the Munich Tenants Association assume that the landlord will have to be held responsible for the failure,” says tenant advisor Franz.
Note: This article first appeared on Capital.de
