What happens if tenants can no longer pay their utilities?
Created: 09/20/2022, 12:48 p.m
By: Ines Baur
Everything gets more expensive.
Allocable ancillary costs add up and ancillary cost bills become high back payments.
What if these cannot be paid (symbol image)?
© Thomas Trutschel/photothek.net
Not only rents, but rising ancillary costs make living unaffordable for many.
The Federal Association of German housing and real estate companies has now promised tenants to set up protection against dismissal.
Berlin - The Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW for short) has promised tenants to set up protection against dismissal during the energy crisis.
"As in the course of the corona pandemic, the socially oriented housing companies will not make any terminations due to late payment of the utility bills, even in the energy crisis," said GdW President Axel Gedaschko to the newspapers of the
Funke media group.
Additional costs can be deferred or paid in installments
Nobody should lose their apartment because of payment difficulties, Gedaschko added.
In coordination with the tenants, individual solutions such as installment payments are to be agreed.
However, according to the GdW President, the effects of the energy crisis cannot be solved with the means of tenancy law.
The federal government must finally "tackle the problems at the root and introduce a gas price cap".
What the gas price cap is and what it means for consumers: Questions and answers about the gas price cap can be found here.
Additional costs unaffordable - demand for gas price cap
The Union, the left, trade unions and economists are also demanding a gas price cap.
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has so far rejected such a concept with reference to the federal government's relief packages.
Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) had already announced increased tenant protection in view of the rising electricity and gas prices.
The minister had also proposed extending the grace period to include notices of termination.
Lukas Siebenkotten, President of the German Tenants' Association, welcomed the move, but does not consider it sufficient.
“What we really need is a moratorium on dismissals, like the one that came into force at the beginning of the corona pandemic.” Nevertheless, he called on Geywitz to convince her cabinet colleagues to extend the grace period to include dismissals within the specified period.
"Judges also repeatedly point out that the current regulation does not make sense: In the case of terminations without notice, tenants have the opportunity to repair the situation with additional payments, but not in the case of terminations in due time.
The grace period should apply to both situations," said Siebenkotten.
Not enough money for the gas or electricity bill – you can do that in concrete terms
"If the additional payment is so high that you cannot pay it from your income, you should contact the local job center (or, if you are not able to work, the social welfare office)," advises the consumer advice center.
"Even with a low income, you can apply for benefits from the job center or social welfare office." Additional payments from ancillary and heating bills are considered necessary in the month in which the additional claim is received.
It is important to submit the application in the month in which an additional payment is due.