In the discussions about the government's plans to ban oil and gas heating, the focus has so far been on owners.
Every second German lives for rent - and is also massively affected.
Berlin – Germany is facing a heat transition.
Should the ban on oil and gas heating go ahead according to the plans of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD), then most owners will have to start calculating.
The installation of a new heating system is expensive, but the big chunk lies in the energetic refurbishment.
However, most people in Germany are not owners, but renters.
Tenants may not have to take out loans or save money to cover the total costs of the heat transition.
But that doesn't mean they're going to be spared.
Refurbishment and installation of a new heating system: Can the landlord pass on the costs?
Owners of apartment buildings are allowed to partially pass on the costs for renovations to their tenants.
These are the current legal requirements for increasing the rent after modernization work:
The landlord must have announced the modernization at least three months in advance
A maximum of eight percent of the renovation costs may flow into the rent increase
The cap limits continue to apply: the rent may not be increased by more than three euros/square meter within six years;
if the price per square meter exceeds seven euros, the rent increase must not be more than two percent
Landlords must also remember that during the renovation work, the tenant is often entitled to a rent reduction.
But: There are exceptions when it comes to energy-related renovation.
Rents increase after renovation
For tenants, this means that the costs for the renovation and modernization of their heating can be passed on to them.
The extent to which rents increase as a result of the renovation alone depends entirely on whether the apartment needs to be intensively renovated or not.
According to a model calculation by the
FAZ,
the renovation of an apartment building in an old building costs around 150,000 euros, while the costs in a house that is more modern and therefore does not need new insulation are only 50,000 euros.
Example based on average prices
A 100 square meter apartment in the old building is rented for 1,200 euros/month (cold) before the renovation.
There are six other apartments in the apartment building, all of which are the same size.
The apartment is poorly insulated and has gas-fired floor heating.
The landlord has not made any price adjustments within the past six years.
The landlord announces renovation work, the insulation in the entire apartment building will be modernized and all windows will be replaced.
Central heating is installed, which is a hybrid heating (gas/heat pump).
The project costs the landlord 148,000 euros.
In order to recoup the costs, the landlord wants to raise the rent, so he splits the costs fairly among all the rented apartments.
In theory, the renovation costs around 21,200 euros per apartment.
However, the landlord may only apply a maximum of eight percent, i.e. 1,696 euros, to the annual rent.
A rent increase of 141.33 euros per month would therefore be permissible.
For tenants, however, the bigger chunk lies less in the renovation costs and the subsequent rent increase than in the ancillary costs that will inevitably come as a result of the switch to direct electricity heating.
Electricity is currently still more expensive than gas.
If that doesn't change soon, the heating costs for everyone who uses a hybrid heating system consisting of a heat pump and gas will soon increase significantly.
The energetic refurbishment should actually lead to a reduction in energy consumption and thus energy costs.
According to the FAZ
model calculation
, however, this is not the case if one assumes that electricity will remain so much more expensive than cheap gas.
In the old building, the annual energy consumption drops from 90,000 kWh to 50,000 kWh – that is, really significantly.
But you can't see the difference in the heating costs: they are 176.50 euros/month per tenant after the renovation compared to 204.40 euros before.
In the case of newer buildings, the heating costs in the model calculation even increase after the renovation: from 138 euros a month to 162.80 euros/month.
This is because the energy saving potential is lower overall in a newer building, so although less energy is consumed after the renovation, it is not as much as in an old building that has not been renovated.
+
The heat loss, for example through external walls and windows, is decisive for the energy consumption in a building.
© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa-tmn
Government heating plans: protection for tenants
According to a summary of the draft law, tenants should be protected from excessive costs.
Landlords should be prohibited from dramatically increasing the additional costs after installing a new heating system.
According to the summary, the heating costs demanded by the landlord must not be higher than the basic supply tariff in the region.
If the landlord installs a heat pump even though the building has not been renovated beforehand, the tenants are threatened with extremely high electricity costs because the heat pump cannot work efficiently.
The law also wants to protect against this – however, no details were given in the summary.
However, this does not mean that the price increases described above should be prohibited.
In addition, it is not yet clear to what extent tenants should benefit from subsidies.
The Ministry of Economics had promised financial support for the heat transition, but there are still no details on the scope.
List of rubrics: © Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa-tmn
