YorkshireLad6

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Posts posted by YorkshireLad6

  4. Posted

     

    I will be leaving Germany in end of august anyway, so this is not a problem for me, right? Or will I have problems when I do the abmeldung in auslanderbehorde?

     

    You will essentially leave Germany with an unpaid debt. If you keep a bank account here it may be sequested to pay that debt. If the debt is not paid and you ever wish to return to Germany there is a risk there may be problems (even at port of entry) as you will be on a debtors register. Note too that the longer the debt remains unpaid the higher it will become due to interest, court and collection charges.

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  5. Posted

     

    So my boyfriend and I are currently subletting an apartment - we both registered here at the same time. I've received a letter yesterday telling me I need to start paying the fee, or I can pay 1/3 of it - so I assume this means they realise there are 3 people registered to this address right now? But my boyfriend has not received a letter. And also, can I just tell them to fk off because the person we are subletting from is paying the fee, and I'm not gonna pay it because this apartment is leased to him, and all the bills are included in the rent we are paying to him? They didn't give me that option...they only gave me the option of paying in full or paying 1/3...like they didn't think it's possible someone else is paying the whole amount??

     

    It's not normal to pay a proportion - usually one person in the household pays and the others pay him or her. If you are sure your landlords is paying the fee for your home then all you need is his payment reference number which you can then send to them to get off paying yourself. Rundfunkgebuhr is not normally in Nebenkosten, however.

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  8. Posted

     

    If in doubt you can ask your bank, if they check it and confirm that the transaction is correct then AFAIK the money is yours.

     

    The bank can't really confirm any more than is shown in the bank statement, which includes the originating bank details which are securely transmitted in the SEPA data fields. The IBAN (DE08750000000075001007) definitely belongs to the Bundeskasse Halle, and would be very difficult to spoof by a scammer. There's no doubt where the money came from, the only question is why, which is as good as answered already.

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  10. Posted

    The Bundeskasse Halle/Saale paid it so they are unlikely to make a mistake. They are responsible for the payment (refund) of many taxes including income tax and Elterngeld. If you were expecting Elterngeld, then this is likely it, although you would normally also receive confirmation ("Bescheid") a few days before the payment. If it's exactly 900 Euros then it's too rounded to be a tax refund.

    1

  11. Posted

     

    I'd like to apply directly to the insurance company for injury compensation and keep lawyers out of it. Is that possible / advisable?

     

    Unless you are long term or permanently disabled, there is no such thing. You can expect all medical costs to be paid, loss of earnings if that applies, as well as repairs to your bike and property to restore them to their former state (if possible, otherwise replacement value), but additional "compensation" as in so many other countries is pretty much out of the question...

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  13. Posted

     

    So there is now a new development; friend has not been paid for the work he did last month, his boss has so far made up some nonsense about him not informing his accountant (I don't have the email to hand, but needless to say, it's specious bullshit) So far he is not giving any indication of whether he will remunerate friend for this work, but it basically sounds like he wants to avoid paying his staff what they are owed.

     

    Are you suggesting his salary has not been paid, or was this additional remuneration for overtime for example? If his standard salary is not paid (in his account) within 3 days of the agreed date (usually 1st of the month, but specified in his contract) without good reason then the employer has broken his side of the contract already.

    2

  18. Posted

    Domestic flights (i.e flights inside Germany) attract 19% VAT. If part of your trip includes a connecting flight wholly inside of Germany and you need to change planes for that connecting flight then VAT is applied to that flight only.

     

    The VAT content should be clear on your ticket and on any receipt issued by the airline. Bear in mind that flights supplied by non-German agencies (which includes many online agencies) might not include VAT as special conditions apply. German travel agencies (not airlines!) may add VAT on their services for flights into or outside of Germany. In this case you should again look at the receipt detail.

     

    As far as VAT recovery is concerned, the Finanzamt will only accept a formal passenger receipt from the airline or agency that charge you for the ticket, where any VAT charged should be clearly itemised, so recovery of VAT is not your decision but depends on the appearance of VAT on the receipt to recover in the first place.

    2

  19. Posted

    Your landlord has to show the calculation (total quantity used and charged and division among all apartments according to square meterage) - one has to assume they seriously underestimated total consumption or that it increased for some reason. The downside of this approach is that if your neighbour leaves all the taps running 24/7 or has a faulty toilet valve then you end up paying for his carelessness.

     

    I agree that 81€/month is VERY high, assuming that is ONLY for water. Water costs in Berlin are highest in Germany. An average 2 person house consumes 80m³/year (122l per person) costing around 550€/year in Berlin - that's less than 50€ a month total, but assuming, of course that the water is metered. You can use this "average" calculation to show to your landlord that his consumption may be extremely misguided and that while you don't dispute the house consumption, there is clearly a problem somewhere with excessive water consumption or wastage. Not sure how much legal water (!) it holds though...

     

    It would be illegal to add costs to the Nebenkosten in lieu of a rental increase. Nebenkosten must be justifiable. You can ask to see the bills. Note that the water calculation is applied to total (hot+cold) water. The costs of heating the cold water to make it hot come in addition.

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  21. Posted

    In simple terms you can use pretty much any SIM in any unlocked modem. A MiFi is independant of the device it is used with (a further advantage) so long as you have wifi, but a USB modem needs to be supported by the hard/software of your computer, so if going down the USB route make sure they support Mac and your OS. Not all do.

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  22. Posted

    This may seem a trivial thing, but is your name correctly displayed on the mailbox? They often send these details registered mail and won't deliver if it's not immediately clear you live at the address on the letter. It normally takes 3-4 working days (max) to arrive...

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  23. Posted

     

    I found one for sale that was locked that was the same model as the one Swisscom sells.

     

    You don't especially need the same model. In fact, a MiFi unit might be a better solution as then multiple devices (inclkuding smartphones) can share the internet, and it brings this thread back on track.

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