Unclear rental agreement

Tenant was refunded 4000 euros

Operating cost statements and rental agreements should always be checked.

(Bild: arbeiterkammer.at, stock.adobe.com, Krone KREATIV)

The recent case of a young woman from Vorarlberg shows that it is worth taking a closer look at the small print in tenancy agreements. She was supposed to pay operating costs in arrears - and ended up getting a lot more money back.

The young tenant had received an additional operating cost claim of almost 500 euros from her commercial landlady. The woman then contacted the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labor to have her bill checked. And lo and behold: after a thorough examination of the rental agreement, the AK consumer protectors finally discovered that it did not even clearly regulate who had to pay the operating costs. The clauses were ineffective due to this lack of transparency - and consequently the tenant was not responsible for payment.

In the end, the young woman was in for a good surprise: not only was the additional claim waived, but all the operating costs she had paid since moving into the apartment in 2021 were also forfeited.

However, it took a while before she was refunded the money: This was because the tenant initially ignored the repayment requests. Because she refused to make any contact, the matter was handed over to a lawyer. In the end, the landlady paid back almost 4,000 euros via a reminder action and also had to bear the costs of the lawyer's intervention.

"This case shows once again that it is always worth contacting AK Vorarlberg if questions arise about utility bills," emphasizes Karin Hinteregger, Head of the Consumer Protection Department. "Because even if - as is very often the case - no inconsistencies come to light when checking the operating cost statement, this check provides certainty without any cost risk."