2024-02-15 13:44:05
In view of skyrocketing rental prices, the tenants’ association is calling for a reform of operating costs. If the advocacy group has its way, items such as insurance, property tax and management fees should no longer be borne by the tenants but by the landlords in the future. With a corresponding amendment, tenants of a 70 square meter apartment in the private sector would save a good 60 euros a month, the association calculated.
Elke Hanel-Torsch, chairwoman of the Vienna Tenants’ Association, described the operating costs at a press conference on Thursday as a “second rent”, which accounts for around a quarter of the total rental costs. In this respect, there is a great deal of leverage to cushion the recent sharp rise in rents due to inflation and thus additional burdens for tenants.
One should start with points “that are not caused by the tenants” – i.e. not the costs for garbage or sewage, but rather the premiums for insurance such as fire insurance. The property of the landlord is protected. “This is asset protection. The owner protects his assets, but others have to pay for it. That is anything but fair,” says Hanel-Torsch. For the same reason, the offsetting of property tax as part of the operating cost billing for tenants is also rejected. It is “a tax on land, that is a tax on property.”
Thirdly, from the tenants’ association’s point of view, what is “absurd” and therefore in need of reform is the fact that tenants are charged the administration fee, i.e. the costs of property management. “The tenants have no say at all in the appointment of the property management, but they have to pay for it,” complains Hanel-Torsch. In addition, the property management company is appointed to represent the interests of the landlords, not those of the tenants. It is therefore not possible to demonstrate that tenants have to shoulder the cost burden.
Georg Niedermühlbichler, President of the Tenants’ Association, considers the current catalog of operating costs to be obsolete. It comes from a time when rents were much cheaper than today and landlords might count on significantly lower income. “With this reform, we want to help make housing affordable once more,” he emphasized.
Niedermühlbichler also did not spare his criticism of the turquoise-green government, which had failed to implement a “real” reform with its rent cap. “Unfortunately the federal government has not listened to our suggestions.” Such a reform remains a concern of the tenants’ association, which would like to see rent increases suspended until 2025 and subsequently limit the increase to two percent per year. The advocacy group also envisions standardization of the Tenancy Law Act, which currently does not offer equal protection for all tenants.
The Austrian Association of the Real Estate Industry (ÖVI) “outright” rejects the proposals. It is a matter of “pure populism”; the tenants’ association is presenting demands “under the guise of fairness” that “call into question the entire system of tenancy law,” said ÖVI managing director Anton Holzapfel in a broadcast. More than 200,000 municipal apartments in Vienna would be affected, among other things, “in the end, probably the taxpayer.” In addition, such changes would weaken the income situation of landlords and thus “stifle any investment in the building’s status.”
Support for the tenants’ association, however, came from the SPÖ. “Excessive operating costs mean that property-related costs are passed on to tenants. They might save almost 800 euros a year in an average private apartment by implementing the tenants’ association’s reform model. A large amount, which is a significant relief, especially in times of immense inflation Household expenses would be,” said building spokeswoman Ruth Becher, according to the broadcast.
The Freedom Party took the demands as an opportunity to criticize the tenants’ association and the Vienna SPÖ. “The tenants’ association unfortunately lacks credibility. Criticism of the high Viennese fees is not raised. And the Viennese SPÖ is released from its responsibility for the rent explosion in municipal housing,” said FPÖ building spokesman Philipp Schrangl in a statement. A “clearcut” in the area of operating costs also does not make sense.
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