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German Nesties and Nebenkosten
Just a quick question about this.
We just got our bill for the Nebenkosten for the year of 2010. It's a lot and we really don't think it sounds right. We haven't written to him yet, but we want to make sure we have full understanding before we write to him.
First off it is for the period of 1/1/2010-12/31/2010. We moved into the apartment on 3/1/2010, but the landlord is trying to charge us for the 12 months, we think as the breakdown is really unclear.
According to our contract he has until the end of the following year (12/31/2011) to send us the bill. We got the bill yesterday. I've been reading about this, and according to this we won't have to pay because he sent the bill too late. I, of course, don't want to piss off the landlord and risk some problems with our Kaution when the time comes.
Also what are some services that shouldn't be on the bill? For example, we are being charged for elevator repairs. For some reason that doesn't sound right to me. We've also got a whole bunch of other things on this list. If anyone has a list of things that shouldn't be on there, that would be helpful.
Thanks for reading and any other Nebenkostenabrechnung experiences would be helpful.
Re: German Nesties and Nebenkosten
DH always handles the Nebenkosten, but I'm reading a website talking about the legal aspects. How's your German? If it's good, then just go here:
http://www.nebenkostenabrechnung.com/nebenkostenabrechnung-fristen/
If it's not so good, here's a rundown:
Your landlord can only charge you for the amount of time you've lived there. If you moved in on March 1, then you're only responsible for 10/12 of the Nebenkosten for the year. If you don't understand the bill, ask him if he could please send you a breakdown of the annual cost compared with the amount you have to pay (of course only do this if you're planning on paying).
Legally, you do not have to pay the Nebenkosten f?r 2010 if you get the bill after Dec 31, 2011. Of course, for the sake of good relations you probably should, but you don't have to and your landlord cannot take the amount out of your deposit. If he does, you could take him to court to get that money back (and in Germany, the loser pays all the court and lawyer costs, so you wouldn't be out anything there, either).
If I were you, I'd pay but politely remind the landlord that, according to ?556 Abs. 3 Satz 2 BGB ("Die Abrechnung ist dem Mieter sp?testens bis zum Ablauf des zw?lften Monats nach Ende des Abrechnungszeitraums mitzuteilen. Nach Ablauf dieser Frist ist die Geltendmachung einer Nachforderung durch den Vermieter ausgeschlossen, es sei denn, der Vermieter hat die versp?tete Geltendmachung nicht zu vertreten."), you aren't obligated to pay the Nebenkosten if you get the bill later than 12 months later as long as it's not your fault. I'd tell him we're paying for the sake of good relations ("Kulanz" is the word you're looking for here), but that in the future he should please send the Nebenkostenabrechnung no later than 12 months after the end of the billing period.
As for the elevator repair, that can't be included. Regular costs like power for the elevator can, but not repairs, as those are already included in your rent, says German courts:
"Umstritten ist immer wieder, was an Kosten auf die Mieter abgew?lzt werden kann. Der Gesetzgeber wollte es hier gr?ndlich machen und hat eine Liste verfasst, welche Kosten des Personen- oder Lastenaufzugs in der Nebenkosten-Abrechnung f?r den Mieter auftauchen k?nnen. Laut Betriebskostenverordnung (? 2, Abs. 7) sind das Kosten f?r den Stromverbrauch, Beaufsichtigung und Bedienung, ?berwachung und Pflege sowie die Inspektion und Anlagenreinigung.
Die Pflege des Fahrstuhls darf nicht mit einer Reparatur verwechselt werden: Instandhaltungsma?nahmen sind mit der Miete bereits abgegolten, d?rfen also nicht als Nebenkosten auf den Mieter umgelegt werden."
That's from this article: http://www.welt.de/die-welt/article3592920/Was-der-Fahrstuhl-kosten-darf.html
Good luck!
Great that was really helpful! I'll have a closer look at it later with DH- his German is better than mine. I get the main idea though.
Is Wartung included? It sounds like it could possibly, but I'm not sure. We also pay Wartung for the elevator but we live on the first floor. I found a link that said something about living on the first floor and elevator usage. I skimmed through it, so not sure about if I read it correctly.
http://www.urteile-mietrecht.net/Miete29.html
Thanks so much for your answer, it was really helpful! We are going to join the Mietverein. I heard it can be very helpful and we are thinking about moving the end of this year.
The way I understand what I was reading, Wartung can be included as long as there's not a Vollwartungsvertrag that is part of your regular Betriebskosten, and the Vollwartungsvertrag is to be split 50/50 between you and the landlord (so like you're paying 50% of this all-inclusive service, and if they come to do regular maintenance work, then your landlord can't charge you for it because it's already included in the service).
Do you live on the 1st floor American (ground floor) or 1st floor German (so you have to walk up a flight of stairs)? If it's the former, it sounds like you could make a really good case for you getting no use out of the elevator, and then you can't be charged for any of the elevator costs. If you live on the 1st German floor then it looks like it would be a little harder, but you could probably still prove that you really don't use the elevator. (Although a smart lawyer for the other side would likely argue that you used the elevator to move in and will use it to move out, so you are getting use out of it, just not on a regular basis.)
Nebenkosten are so tricky. I remember we got a bill for ours over a year after we moved out and still had to pay. Maybe because we moved out in March and the billing period for the house was December? Not sure anymore, but DH checkd with a lawyer at his company before we paid.
Nebenkosten can include all kinds of things like the Grundsteuer, chimney sweep, etc. I remember ours was pages long and I wondered why we bothered to pay rent if all the the stuff was being included in the Nebenkosten. So I suppose it?s possible that repairs could be included as well.
I live on the American first floor, so the EG.
DH and I looked at it again and we found another major mistake. On the bill it says that our nebenkosten were 220 a month. We have been paying 360 a month. After playing around with it, we realise he may owe us money!
DH and I were so relieved! We were just in disbelief because our Nebenkosten were already high (we have a fairly modern building) and then we get a bill that says we owe close to 1000, which we thought was just ridiculous. We were thinking that we really should move.
However, there is a tiny part of me that feels that he was trying to pull one over on us (maybe it's just the NYer is me, lol). I've read so many stories of how landlords are crooks and how people never get their security deposit back etc. This was the first time we actually heard from the landlord after living here for two years. He usually just ignored our emails, and we always went straight to the Makkler instead because of this. When we got the email, he was real sly in saying just place the money in my usual account. I'm not sure what to think, but we are joining the Mietverein and having them take a closer look at it.
Have you guys had good landlord experiences?