Today, the Federal Government is dealing with the planned Building Modernisation Act. For owner-occupiers, the design brings more flexibility in modernisation and heating system replacement. For example, it is not necessary to add biofuels to a “normal” gas heating system if a solar thermal system is integrated. Other hybrid systems also provide leeway.
The legislative package, on the other hand, remains problematic for landlords. In the future, they are to bear half of the additional costs incurred in the operation of a new gas heating system. IVD President Dirk Wohltorf explains:
“The new Building Modernization Act loosens some thumbscrews for owners. What is bizarre, however, is that the government thinks it has to protect the tenant from the state and make the landlord pay for it. This is because CO₂ costs, grid charges and costs for admixture are based on government requirements and are indirectly caused by the tenant’s heating behaviour. Anyone who decouples consumption costs from consumption thwarts the climate policy intention of the Building Modernisation Act to use fossil fuels such as oil and gas sparingly.
The upcoming parliamentary deliberations must now be used to change this. Tenancy law should also be changed – not in favour of or against tenant protection, but for more clarity. Tenancy law now reads like a technical description of a heating system. That has nothing to do with tenancy law anymore.”
After the cabinet consultation, the discussion in the German Bundestag follows. When exactly is still open.
