TAG Immobilien AG

Survey says landlords neglect utilities management

(DGAP-Media / 21.04.2015 / 08:43)

Press release

Survey says landlords neglect utilities management

Hamburg (21 April 2015) More than three quarters of Germany's tenants (77
percent) criticise their landlords for neglecting the management of utility
costs. They say that landlords don't do enough to reduce the 'second rent'
- even though utility costs represent a significant financial burden for an
increasing number of people. This was the result of a
population-representative study by TAG Immobilien AG and the Technical
University of Darmstadt. It involved a survey of 1,000 tenants in Germany.

The respondents see the biggest savings potential in areas such as
electricity (71 percent), heating (66 percent) and water (62 percent),
followed by waste management (46 percent) and caretaker services (40
percent). "There are enormous untapped potential savings in each of the
individual items that constitute the second rent," says real estate expert
Prof. Dirk Schiereck of TU Darmstadt. "But this potential can only be
realised if home owners and tenants actively pull together to reduce
utility costs."

The example of Salzgitter shows how much savings potential lies dormant in
utilities costs. TAG Immobilien has practiced systematic cost management in
its approximately 9,200 residential units since 2011. "We have optimised
the costs of energy, waste disposal, cable TV, the internet and caretaker
services for more than 15,000 tenants," says Claudia Hoyer, the TAG
Executive Board member responsible for real estate management. For example,
the electricity supply was re-tendered and environmentally friendly green
power is now supplied to households from cogeneration plants. "This saves
each tenant up to 275 euros a year in heating costs alone," says Hoyer.

TAG has also halved the cost of waste disposal in Salzgitter by changing
the service provider, and a meticulous management of the waste disposal
centres for household waste, bulky waste and waste paper. "We have been
closely monitoring the number of dustbins in front of a given block of
flats, how quickly they fill up, and whether it is possible to have them
emptied only every other week," says Hoyer. A new concept of waste locks
and usage-based billing, along with technically precise remote reading of
electricity/gas/water, has additionally reduced costs. Overall, TAG was
able to reduce costs for its tenants in the Lower Saxon city by up to 340
euros, or 20 percent of the total rent per flat per year.