According to a report, the Berlin-Mitte housing association has increased the ancillary cost prepayments for tenants whose apartments are heated with gas or oil by 100 percent. This is intended to counteract immense additional payments in view of the high energy prices.
Because of rising energy prices, a Berlin housing association is said to have increased the ancillary cost advance payments by up to 100 percent. This is reported by the “Bild” newspaper. Of the 31,000 apartments that the Berlin-Mitte housing association looks after, the tenants of those who are heated with gas or oil should now pay 100 percent higher ancillary costs, and those with long-distance heating should pay 60 percent more.
“In order to counteract the immense additional payments due to our tenants, we are now adjusting the advance payments as a precaution,” a spokesman for the company told the newspaper. He says there have been no complaints from tenants so far. The increase was calculated on the basis of the most recent utility bills, which showed a clear difference between the advance payments and the actual heating costs.
Other housing associations could also increase costs in the future. Recently, a Saxon housing association was criticized for wanting to turn off the hot water for its tenants in order to save energy. “Simply turning off the hot water temporarily is illegal,” said Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) to the newspapers of the Funke media group. The Dippoldiswalde housing cooperative in Saxony had previously decided to only provide hot water at peak times in the morning, midday and evening, citing the increased energy prices as the reason for this. Criticism of this was voiced in Saxon state politics, among other things, but also from other quarters. The German Tenants’ Association pointed out on Tuesday that a lack of hot water is a reason for a rent reduction. A photo of the notice with which the cooperative informed about the move caused a stir on social media.
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