Charging tenants for cable TV fees will soon be history
Some tenants may have already come across the fact that their landlord is allowed to charge them a flat rate for a broadband cable connection - even if it is unused. But that will soon come to an end. Of course, you can still watch TV.
The Germans' favorite hobby? Watching TV, or more precisely: watching television. At least if the statistics are to be believed, people of all age groups from the age of three spend an average of around 195 minutes a day in front of the screen. And why not? After all, moving images make life more colorful and provide entertainment and information. Or to put it another way, what is the point of all the suffering if you don't enjoy yourself?
Television use is shifting more and more from linear to digital. But the bottom line is this: Television always works.
Now that this has been clarified, let's move on to the costs. The first thing that springs to mind is, of course, the opulent broadcasting fee with which the public broadcasters ask viewers to pay. This means that every household has to pay 18.36 euros per month, regardless of whether the relevant programs are used at all. Private TV stations, on the other hand, are free of charge and finance their services from advertising revenue. Or they offer users a streaming service for a small fee. With the German market leader RTL+, for example , everyone can decide for themselves whether the colorful bouquet of series, reality, live sport, films, music, audio books and podcasts is worth the few euros.
Ancillary cost privilege soon passé
It is therefore all the more pleasing that the money for this can soon be saved elsewhere for over 10 million tenants. After all, some tenants who have taken the trouble to check their utility bills may have already stumbled across the fact that their landlord is allowed to charge them a flat rate for a broadband cable connection - even if it is not used.
This is because property owners and property management companies have often concluded so-called collective contracts with cable network operators in the past. Billing takes place via a so-called collective collection. In this way, individual tenants or individual apartment owners pay the costs for the cable connection to the property management company via the service charge bill. This then forwards the money to the cable network operators. Incidentally, this regulation not only applies to television reception, but can also be applied to internet and telephone connections. If you want to know exactly, you can find the relevant legal regulation in section 2 no. 15 of the Operating Costs Ordinance.
But this will soon come to an end, as the so-called ancillary cost privilege will finally be abolished in July 2024. As a result, landlords will no longer be allowed to bill their tenants for cable TV fees as ancillary costs.
TV reception freely selectable
The relevant law has actually been in force since the end of 2021 for new tenancy agreements. For existing contracts, however, there is a transitional period until July 1, 2024, after which all tenants will be free to choose their TV reception. So if the tenant does not want to watch cable TV in future and instead wants to watch ntv via the internet, satellite or aerial, the landlord will be stuck with the costs for the cable connection in future.
Of course, tenants can continue to watch cable TV voluntarily. And, according to the consumer advice center, at a reasonable price. Accordingly, the cable connection for the corresponding individual user contract should increase in price by a maximum of 2 to 3 euros to around 8 to 10 euros per month.
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- The German Tenants' Association has called for an end to landlords charging tenants for cable TV fees, as this practice is expected to become obsolete due to a forthcoming change in legislation.
- Consumers will soon have the freedom to choose their own TV reception, as the German market leader RTL+ and other private TV stations offer streaming services at a small fee.
- The German Federal Court of Justice recently ruled that landlords can no longer bill tenants for cable TV fees as ancillary costs, beginning July 2024.
- Advisors suggest that tenants who do not wish to continue watching cable TV can opt for alternatives like ntv or other providers through the internet, satellite, or aerial, while still paying a reasonable price for the individual user contract.
- Telecom giant Deutsche Telekom and cable network operators may need to adapt their business models to cater to the new regulations, freeing over 10 million tenants from paying for unused cable TV connections.
Source: www.ntv.de
