Because of the high energy prices, a housing cooperative in Saxony wants to temporarily turn off the hot water for its tenants. Construction Minister Geywitz considers this to be a violation of the law. The tenants’ association sees a reason for rent reductions.
According to Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz, a housing cooperative should not turn off the hot water for its tenants to save energy. “Simply turning off the hot water temporarily is illegal,” said the SPD politician of the Funke media group. The Dippoldiswalde housing cooperative in Saxony had previously decided to only provide hot water at peak times in the morning, midday and evening, citing the increased energy prices as the reason for this.
The procedure was met with criticism, among other things, in Saxon state politics. A photo of a notice with which the cooperative informed about the move caused a stir on social media. The German Tenants’ Association pointed out that a lack of hot water was a reason for a rent reduction.
The President of the Central Association of the Housing Industry GdW, Axel Gedaschko, defended the procedure with the special feature of a cooperative: “The purpose is energy and cost savings, which should only benefit the members of the cooperative and from which the landlords themselves have nothing.” However, this is not a model for other housing companies, Gedaschko continues, “because something like this would be inadmissible without prior mutual agreement with the tenants”.
