House & Ground: Due to Corona there is a risk of additional operating costs

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Dusseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The home owners association Haus & Grund is expecting additional cost payments for tenants in North Rhine-Westphalia to rise.

"Because of Corona, many households are threatened with hefty additional operating costs," said the President of Haus & Grund Rhineland Westphalia, Konrad Adenauer, on Monday when his organization presented the NRW housing cost report.

“The pandemic is likely to lead to a further significant increase in operating costs.

The first statistical surveys are already showing this trend, ”said Adenauer.

Working from home would consume more electricity and water and heat apartments more.

The association emphasized that the ancillary costs were already rising significantly faster than the cold rents.

According to his calculations, housing costs in North Rhine-Westphalia increased by an average of 3.3 percent in 2019.

While the basic rent increased by 1.9 percent, the ancillary costs grew by 5.4 percent.

This is primarily due to increased prices for heating, hot water and electricity, which account for 51 percent of operating costs.

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According to the Haus & Grund figures, the average household spent 12.30 euros per month and square meter on living last year.

7.49 euros of this was for rent excluding charges and 4.81 euros for ancillary costs.

The association represents private owners and small landlords.

They provided around 60 percent of the rental apartments in North Rhine-Westphalia.

There is a threat of a further increase in heating costs in the coming year.

From January 1st, a national CO2 price will be introduced in Germany, including for heating.

25 euros are then due for each ton of CO2 released.

According to calculations by the German Tenants' Association, an average of 65 euros more must be paid for natural gas heating with medium energy consumption, and 85 euros for heating oil.

Haus & Grund rejects the tenants' association's demand that the landlords should take over the entire CO2 price for heating.

“If the tenants heat at the expense of the landlord, there is no incentive for economical heating,” said Haus & Grund association director Erik Uwe Amaya.

Renting out living space is then no longer economically feasible.