You are preparing the first letting of a newly constructed residential development in Hamburg. Your process currently states that each tenant should conclude their water contract directly with the supplier. For the model for new residential developments published by HAMBURG WASSER this assumption no longer fits since a change. The billing level must therefore be clarified before contract commitments.
Correctly delimiting the regional change
HAMBURG WASSER explains: Since 1 November 2024 water billing for new residential developments is carried out only via the main water meter directly with the landlord side. Tenants do not have a direct contract with HWW in this model. For existing residential developments the supplier describes the previous apartment-level method as continuing. Changes or extensions of an already correspondingly billed installation are also mentioned separately. [HWW]
An ordinary tenant change in an existing building is therefore not transformed into the described new-installation case by the mere fact of today’s date. Have the actual project classification and the contract status clarified with the responsible supplier. For older applications submitted in good time the source names a separate reservation for review; that does not imply any commitment for your current new-build project.
Distinguish supplier billing and apartment billing
For desired apartment-level billing of new installations the supplier names a metering service provider to be commissioned by the landlord. According to the published description this provider should install the apartment water meters and prepare the billing. [HWW] An existing meter alone therefore does not yet answer who is actually commissioned for which level.
As your own editorial preparation put three responsibilities side by side: the contract with the supplier, any metering and billing service required within the residential development, and your communication with the tenants. Record for each the actual commission, scope of services and contact for queries.
A separate case before the first commitment
A fictitious landlady is preparing six new flats. Her first draft refers to a direct contract by each tenant for water in general terms. After reviewing the published rule she first changes her work plan: she clarifies the project’s connection and billing status and obtains the information required for a possible apartment-level service.
Only with a confirmed scope of services does she have the cost flow and contract documents checked accordingly. She promises interested parties neither a direct billing nor a specific service price as long as neither belongs to the actual project solution. The number six describes only the invented case and not a supplier threshold.
Do not derive the tenancy agreement from the service provider’s offer
§ 556 BGB deals with the agreement on bearing operating costs and the billing of advance payments. [B556] The choice of a metering service provider is therefore not a complete check of which specific costs may be billed in the tenancy and on what basis.
For the legal and billing clarification present together the draft tenancy agreement, the envisaged scope of services, the actual billing unit and the available metering data. A collective line item Water included does not answer these questions. This article does not determine a distribution key and does not calculate an advance payment.
Establish a confirmed procedure before move-in
The conclusion should show to whom supplier invoices are sent, which apartment-level service is actually commissioned and what comprehensible information the tenants receive. Open points remain visible until confirmation. The regional supplier conditions must be checked again against the specific project before use. The change described here must not be transferred unexamined to other cities or water suppliers.