Rental charges - all utilities for rent at a glance

• Additional costs - money for services
  • heater
  • electricity
  • maintenance
  • Operating costs of the house
  • waste disposal
  • water supply
  • canal tolls
  • Invisible costs
  • reduce costs
  • Necessary costs

The cost of your own home is a powerful item in your monthly income. It is by far not just the rent that regularly charges the account. The many smaller additional amounts can quickly add up to the same amount as the rent. Here you will learn everything that belongs to rent and how you can minimize these costs.

Additional costs - money for services

The additional costs are all costs, which have to do directly with the apartment or proportionally with the operation of the residential building. They are used to compensate for the costs that a landlord, administrator or owner of a house has. However, they are not intended to give the landlord a kind of additional rent, where he can earn money. Therefore, the landlord is required by law to issue a detailed utility bill, in which he gives accurate information about the costs incurred. So it's worth living economically. A service charge settlement can also quite a repayment result.

heater

One of the biggest items in the rental costs is the heating. This can, but does not necessarily have to be handled by the landlord. However, in a central heating system for a multi-family house, individual negotiation and settlement with an energy supplier is quite difficult. So if the apartment does not have its own spa with its own gas meter or oil tank, it usually has to be billed together in an apartment building. But this also has advantages: With a central heating system much more efficient systems can be installed, for example with solar thermal support. This is much more difficult with separate apartments. Nevertheless, each rental unit receives a separate meter, which indicates how much heat it has consumed. The billing is correspondingly transparent.

electricity

Just as important as the heating is the power supply. Again, the management by the landlord is optional. In the course of the deregulation of the electricity markets, much more competition has arisen. It is now possible that within a single family house several providers provide the tenants with electricity. Here can be saved by economical use and consistent price comparison a lot of money.

maintenance

A house looks like it's built for eternity. But that's not all. Everything about a house is subject to the normal laws of aging and decay. To be permanently habitable, it must be permanently maintained. It basically applies that an early discovered damage is much cheaper to repair than an ignored need for action. Here, all tenants of a multi-family house are in demand: Attention and prudence can significantly reduce the costs of repairs for all those involved. A broken roof shingle, a damp wall in the basement, a damaged window - all these are gates for moisture, mold and frost damage. It must be done anyway, the sooner the homeowner is informed, the cheaper it will be for everyone.

Operating costs of the house

The house is not just the sum of the individual apartments. Each house also has a staircase, a cellar, a roof truss along with cover, a garden and a driveway. These shared facilities also incur costs: the lighting from the stairwell, the lawn care or the regularly ordered Hofkehrer must be paid in advance by the landlord. However, these items are decidedly listed in the service charge settlement. Upon request, the landlord can also obtain the receipts and bills of the various service providers that the landlord has ordered for the operation of the house.

waste disposal

Every inhabitant produces significant amounts of waste. These must be removed reliably. Meanwhile, the idea of ​​recycling is firmly anchored in Germany. However, the fees for the disposal of waste and recyclables fell by no means - rather the opposite. One may speculate about the causes, but it does not help: the garbage collection must be paid. The fees for the garbage disposal also bears the landlord in advance and equalizes it on the lump-sum extra costs. However, he also receives from the disposers a dedicated annual statement, with which he provides information about his costs incurred. But here is a good set screw, with which you can avoid avoiding cost increase: The disposers now calculate high additional charges for half-empty or incorrectly filled waste bins. Carefully and responsibly sorting your garbage can save a lot of money. Bring consistently waste glass and waste paper into the collection container. Anything they can dispose of for free saves you money in the end. A tip: Empty cans or jam jars with just in the next dishwasher. So cleaned, they can be stored for as long as they like without stinking.

water supply

Water is part of the basic supply of an apartment, as well as heating and electricity. In contrast to electricity and heating, the water does not just have to get into the apartment, it also has to drain. The two systems, drinking water supply and sanitation, are technically very complex. The purification of the wastewater is very complex and must be borne by the community. In addition, the maintenance work for the sewers come. This is the "channel fees" item in the service charge settlement. If these have continued to increase in recent years, then there are good reasons.

canal tolls

... reduce through conscious interaction

To put it in a nutshell: A toilet is not a trash can! The water treatment companies are alarming in Germany. What is dumped in the toilet in this country, is not what it is intended. The wipes prove to be particularly problematic here. Oil-based baby wipes are a huge problem for sanitation. Likewise, leftovers, especially if they are fatty, are downright catastrophic. Some restaurants dump their old fryer fats into the sink - with dramatic consequences: the fat accumulates in ever larger lumps on the canal walls until they are completely blocked at some point. The subsequent cleaning is very expensive and is allocated to the channel fees.

The biggest problem at the moment is the wet toilet paper. Unfortunately, this pleasant invention has an undesirable side effect: In contrast to normal toilet paper, wet toilet paper towels do not decompose. They stay as they are until they reach the treatment plant. And that is already a stroke of luck. Wet toilet paper towels are the number one cause today when it comes to clogged channels. For this reason, some municipalities have already had to double the canal fees - at the expense of the citizens.

Only one thing can help here: Avoid using moist toilet paper towels. Either they moisturize normal toilet paper and achieve the same effect as the indestructible finished products. Or you invest a little money and dramatically increase your quality of life:

Cost savings with shower toilets

Germany is the technological leader in many areas. In sanitary technology, this is only partially true. By far the most innovative country when it comes to toilets is Japan. What is celebrated there in terms of technological games around the bowel movement, is already phenomenal. However, we here in Germany have a manufacturer who presents himself with great success in this market. Geberit presents with its "Aquaclean" range a whole range of sophisticated solutions around the quiet village. The entry-level model, the Aquaclean 4000, is already available for about 400 euros. He is mounted like a normal toilet seat on the toilet bowl. Then he needs a water supply and a power connection - your new luxury toilet is ready. And you never need to buy damp toilet paper again. If this technology prevails, clogged channels will soon be a thing of the past. However, it also includes not using the toilet as trash can anymore.

And process water recycling ">

The idea is quite tempting: why dump the wastewater from the washing machine into the sink if you could at least use it for toilet flushing? There are definitely concepts for this secondary use of wash liquor. These are not very mature and still very expensive. Numerous structural measures are required to really make this effect happen. Here it must be said that this solution is still something for particularly eco-conscious private users. An area-wide employment is so far, despite all advantages, not to be expected.

Invisible costs

Garbage fees, heat, electricity, water and even the lighting from the staircase are all items that are traceable and visible in their effect. However, ancillary costs also include a whole series of items that have to be charged to the tenant without any direct effect. These are essentially the insurance and the taxes. Property taxes are due on a house.

Comprehensive insurance is also mandatory. These include a building liability insurance, fire insurance and possibly also insurance against weather damage. Although these insurance costs a certain amount, in case of damage they are indispensable.

Always check utility bills "> Reduce costs

... through comparisons and use

But what you can do is to consider together with the landlord how to reduce the costs. A consistent comparison of the insurance can already help to save one or the other euro. In addition, with many smaller measures, the sum of the fees can also be kept under control. Consistent waste prevention and separation can mean that a recycling bin is less ordered. Already the garbage fees are lowered for everyone. The lawn care can also be taken over by the tenants in their own contribution. In addition, the maintenance of the house can be done in part by the tenants: changing bulbs, cleaning the stairwell, sweeping the driveway and much more can make the caretaker service superfluous. Tenants and landlords can work together in a trusting relationship to keep costs under control.

Necessary costs

The additional costs are unpleasant but unavoidable. In order to be able to enjoy a comfortable life in a rented flat, one buys in principle the additional costs with it. However, with a keen sense of austerity, one can do a lot to reduce these costs. It all depends on your own commitment and the neighborly relationship. Where a trusting, well-functioning neighborhood exists, there can be achieved a great deal to reduce the additional costs. And where trust is, friendship is not far away. Once the idea of ​​economy has shown its effects, a community can do much more: purchasing together consumer goods, living space and joint negotiations with electricity, gas or media providers can cut spending even further. And a trusting, good neighborly relationship is just more enjoyable.