Own gas contract while renting?

[klingklang77 489]

I am currently apartment hunting and my budget is 800 warm rent. 

 

I thought I found a nice place at 81 m2 and with 3 rooms. The landlord lives there. 10 mins from work. They wanted 585 cold with 85 for Nebenkosten. However, not included in the Nebenkosten was heating. The landlord expected me to get my own contract or take his over. I called up the local Stadtwerke and was told it would be 300 a month for October, November, and December and then it would even out in January. I would just have to pay more upfront because I would be a new customer and it’s winter. In addition, the water is electric heating and not gas heating. 

 

I decided against the apartment because it is not in my budget, especially with the electric heating of water. I did not sign anything. I told the landlord I was not interested in an SMS after looking over the contract. Now he is calling me telling me Stadtwerke is wrong and it will only be 180 a month. 

 

Now, I’m starting to doubt my decision. It just doesn’t seem normal that I would have to get my own gas contract.

 

ETA: This is in the area of Leipzig, hence why it is so cheap.  

[MikeMelga 7,211]

it's perfectly normal to have your own contract. In my case I have water, electricity and gas.

What is not normal is an apartment 800 warm...

[Gambatte 877]

Yes, normal, this is exactly what we had too when renting.

300 eur/month for single person 81m2 seems excessive, even with recent energy inflation. But ultimately you will in any case pay as much as you use, no more no less, regardless of what they tell you when discussing the nebenkosten.

[klingklang77 489]

16 minutes ago, MikeMelga said:

it's perfectly normal to have your own contract. In my case I have water, electricity and gas.

What is not normal is an apartment 800 warm...

 

It’s normal in the small town I am looking at. In fact, people told me it was too expensive. 

[klingklang77 489]

13 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

Yes, normal, this is exactly what we had too when renting.

300 eur/month for single person 81m2 seems excessive, even with recent energy inflation. But ultimately you will in any case pay as much as you use, no more no less, regardless of what they tell you when discussing the nebenkosten.

 

Yes, I thought so, too, but the Stadtwerke is saying I have to pay it up front for this winter and I can’t afford that much with all the other moving costs I am encountering. 

 

Also, I am a bit freaked out that the water is heated with electricity…

[vivanco 172]

53 minutes ago, klingklang77 said:

I decided against the apartment because it is not in my budget, especially with the electric heating of water. I did not sign anything. I told the landlord I was not interested in an SMS after looking over the contract. Now he is calling me telling me Stadtwerke is wrong and it will only be 180 a month. 

 

I would suggest you to check the gas cost on check 24 website / app.  It will show the cost if you take a gas contract as well if you take the default provider. Currently default provider are quite. cheap compared to contract. The price of 300-400 / months most probably is based for a contract. For default gas / electricity, you don't have to sign anything. 

 

In my view your landlord might be correct. 

[klingklang77 489]

7 minutes ago, vivanco said:

 

I would suggest you to check the gas cost on check 24 website / app.  It will show the cost if you take a gas contract as well if you take the default provider. Currently default provider are quite. cheap compared to contract. The price of 300-400 / months most probably is based for a contract. For default gas / electricity, you don't have to sign anything. 

 

In my view your landlord might be correct. 

 

Yeah, I called up the local Stadtwerke twice and both times they said the same thing: 300 per month until the end of the year and then it evens out in January. Then the landlord got upset and said that was wrong. I really have no room in my budget for surprises like this. I’m actually kind of annoyed that the landlord wouldn’t leave me alone all afternoon after I said I am no longer interested. 

[norcal_sf 124]

So ask this landlord (who seems like they need to rent it), to lower the COLD rent since you have to pay so much in heating.  It either shuts them up to stop calling you or you get a deal.

[LukeSkywalker 7,538]

1 hour ago, klingklang77 said:

 I’m actually kind of annoyed that the landlord wouldn’t leave me alone all afternoon after I said I am no longer interested. 

Come to Munich then: no landlord will be “begging” you to rent a place 👻.

[vivanco 172]

1 hour ago, klingklang77 said:

 

Yeah, I called up the local Stadtwerke twice and both times they said the same thing: 300 per month until the end of the year and then it evens out in January. Then the landlord got upset and said that was wrong. I really have no room in my budget for surprises like this. I’m actually kind of annoyed that the landlord wouldn’t leave me alone all afternoon after I said I am no longer interested. 

They told you the price of a 12.month contract. Generally you don't need to do anything to sign for basic ( grundversorger) tariff. The basic tariff is quite flexible and price can also change from time to time. 

 

Hopefully you can find another modern  place where prices are inclusive in rent. 

[LeonG 14,704]

I've had water heated with electricity and it wasn't that expensive.  Didn't notice much of a jump in my power bill. 

 

As for the heating, unless it's pauschal miete, you will be paying for what you use whether it is in your or the landlords name.  If it's 300 a month to start but  you use less, once they read the meter, they will repay you and adjust the amount according to your usage.  If the landlord would agree to do it and tell you it's 180, once they read the meter and it turns out it was actually more, you will owe your landlord.

 

A friend of mine has his tenants get the gas in their name, reason being it's one less thing for him to worry about.  In most rental places, it's in the landlords name because there isn't normally a separate gas meter for each apartment so the landlord pays for all of it and some other system is in place to figure out how much each apartment should pay.

 

[klingklang77 489]

36 minutes ago, LukeSkywalker said:

Come to Munich then: no landlord will be “begging” you to rent a place 👻.

Haha. I’m still finishing out my Kündigungsfrist in Munich. 

[klingklang77 489]

9 minutes ago, LeonG said:

I've had water heated with electricity and it wasn't that expensive.  Didn't notice much of a jump in my power bill. 

 

As for the heating, unless it's pauschal miete, you will be paying for what you use whether it is in your or the landlords name.  If it's 300 a month to start but  you use less, once they read the meter, they will repay you and adjust the amount according to your usage.  If the landlord would agree to do it and tell you it's 180, once they read the meter and it turns out it was actually more, you will owe your landlord.

 

A friend of mine has his tenants get the gas in their name, reason being it's one less thing for him to worry about.  In most rental places, it's in the landlords name because there isn't normally a separate gas meter for each apartment so the landlord pays for all of it and some other system is in place to figure out how much each apartment should pay.

 

 

Yeah, it just seemed like one more thing I would have to be doing. I really don’t use heat in the winter time. I am always warm. If I ever get cold, I just put a sweater on. I love winter and hate summer. 

 

I’ve always gotten money back from my Nebenkosten. 

[Fietsrad 379]

The Stadtwerke sets the payment high in case the new tenants use an awful lot of energy. Some people are wasteful, even with their own money, leave the heating on when they are out, etc usw.

 

Mine was recalculated after a year. Went down by 1€😃