Real Estate Law2026-10-18

My landlord has no remotely readable meters — can I reduce the heating costs by 3 per cent?

If your heating meters cannot be read remotely, you may be entitled to reduce the costs by 3 per cent under certain conditions. Which deadline is running out right now, and what turns on the facts of your case.

You have just received your heating bill, and you notice something: the meters in your flat are still read in person every year — someone comes round to take the readings, and nothing is transmitted remotely. You have heard that there is a right to reduce the bill in such cases, but does it apply to you, and by how much?

In brief

Yes — under certain conditions you may reduce your share of the heating and hot water costs by 3 per cent if, contrary to the Heating Costs Ordinance (Heizkostenverordnung), your landlord has not installed remotely readable metering devices. What matters here is when the devices were fitted: for devices newly installed since December 2021 the obligation already applies now, whereas for older existing devices the deadline to upgrade only expires on 31 December 2026. The reduction is a self-help right that you must assert against your landlord within the objection period — otherwise it lapses.

How I can help you

Assessing whether the conditions for the right to reduce the bill are met in your particular case
Checking the deadlines: the objection period under section 556(3) BGB and the upgrade deadline under section 5(3) HeizkostenV
Drafting and enforcing your objection against the landlord or managing agent
Clarifying whether the 3 per cent or the considerably higher 15 per cent reduction applies
Representing you if the landlord refuses to accept the reduction and demands payment

Conditions: when does the 3 per cent reduction really apply

The right to reduce the bill under section 12(1), second sentence, HeizkostenV presupposes a breach of section 5(2) or (3) HeizkostenV — that is, a breach of the obligation to use remotely readable metering devices. “Remotely readable” means that the reading is taken without access to your flat, for example by radio or remote data transmission. Two situations must be distinguished:

Newly installed devices (since 1 December 2021): Where metering devices were fitted after this cut-off date, they must in principle already be remotely readable. If your landlord is in breach of this, the right to reduce the bill exists today, regardless of any transitional period.

Existing devices (installed before December 2021): For older meters that are not remotely readable, section 5(3) HeizkostenV grants a deadline to upgrade or replace them by 31 December 2026. For as long as that deadline is still running there is no breach of the obligation yet — so here the right to reduce the bill only arises for accounting periods beginning after the deadline expires. Anyone who, now in October 2026, is settling their current heating period will therefore, as a rule, not yet be able to claim the reduction for old existing devices; that changes with the bills for the year 2027.

There is an exception to the upgrade obligation where, in the individual case, the conversion is technically impossible or would involve disproportionate expense (undue hardship). The burden of setting this out and proving it lies with the landlord, not with you.

Drawing the distinction: don’t confuse the 3 per cent with the 15 per cent reduction

This is the mistake that happens most often in practice: section 12(1), first sentence, HeizkostenV grants a reduction of 15 per cent where, contrary to the Ordinance, your heating or hot water costs are not billed on a consumption basis at all — that is, where no metering takes place, or where the bill is based on a pure floor-area key even though it should have been billed by consumption. That is a quite different and considerably more serious defect than “not remotely readable”. If you have meters that work but simply cannot be read remotely, it stays at 3 per cent. A separate breach, likewise penalised at 3 per cent, arises where, in the case of remotely readable devices, your landlord fails to provide the ongoing consumption information under section 6a HeizkostenV, or provides it only in part — but that affects you only if remotely readable technology is already in place.

How to assert the reduction in practice

The reduction is not a claim that a court must first decide upon. It is a self-help right: when checking the bill, you deduct 3 per cent from your share of the heating and hot water costs and pay correspondingly less, or reclaim the difference. So that this does not simply become a dispute over the amount payable, you should notify your landlord or the managing agent in writing and in concrete terms:

That the metering devices in your flat are not remotely readable
Since when these devices have been installed (so far as known or ascertainable)
That you are relying on section 12(1), second sentence, HeizkostenV and are reducing your share of the costs accordingly

The deadline is important: under section 556(3) BGB, objections to a service-charge statement — and the reduction notice is such an objection — must be raised no later than twelve months after the statement is received. If you miss this deadline, you are in principle barred from raising the objection, unless you are not responsible for the delay.

If you own your flat: an important exception

If you do not rent but live in your flat as its owner, the right to reduce the bill under section 12(1), fourth sentence, HeizkostenV does not apply in the internal relationship with the community of owners. The provision is tailored to the relationship between the owner of the building, or the landlord, and the user; within the community of owners the general rules of residential property law for the annual statement apply instead. As the tenant of an owner-occupied flat you are not affected by this exception — the right to reduce the bill still stands against your landlord, who owns the flat.

A typical case from practice

A client has rented a flat in a block for years. The original evaporation tubes from the early 2000s are still fitted — here the transitional period until the end of 2026 still applies, and there is no right to reduce the bill at present. In the same building, however, the boiler plant in the basement was renewed in 2023, and in the course of this new heat meters — again not remotely readable — were fitted in some of the flats. For those flats, and not for the ones with the old tubes, the right to reduce the bill already exists for the current statements, because this is an installation after the cut-off date of 1 December 2021. What was decisive here was reconstructing exactly when each device was installed — a point that clients often overlook without legal advice.

Common mistakes

Confusing the 3 per cent reduction with the 15 per cent reduction, or claiming both at once without a sound basis.
Applying the reduction to the entire service charges rather than only to the heating and hot water cost share.
Assuming that the transitional period for existing devices has already expired, when it only ends on 31 December 2026.
Missing the twelve-month objection period under section 556(3) BGB because the reduction is first raised orally and then put in writing too late.
Failing to document or enquire how long the existing devices have actually been installed — without this date the claim can scarcely be substantiated.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does “remotely readable” mean?

A metering device is remotely readable if its consumption reading can be taken without access to your flat, for example by radio or via a data network. If someone must still come into your flat in person to read the meter, the device is not remotely readable within the meaning of the Ordinance.

Does the reduction apply only to the heating costs or also to hot water?

The 3 per cent reduction concerns your share of the heating and hot water costs together, in so far as these costs are apportioned on a consumption basis. Other service-charge items such as refuse collection or the caretaker are not covered by it.

Can I rely on the 3 per cent and the 15 per cent reduction at the same time?

No — the two presuppose different and mutually exclusive defects: the 15 per cent reduction applies where there is no consumption-based billing at all, the 3 per cent reduction where there is consumption-based billing but the devices for it are not remotely readable. Which variant applies depends on how your case is in fact billed.

Do I have to calculate the reduction myself, or is an informal note enough?

You should quantify the reduction specifically and declare it in writing to your landlord, ideally with reference to the relevant legal basis. A vague note without a concrete reduction amount does not reliably protect you against the expiry of the objection period.

What happens if my landlord does not accept the reduction?

Then the dispute over the amount of the balance owed or the credit remains open, and in case of doubt the matter must be resolved out of court or in court. In that event, have it checked early on whether the conditions are in fact met, so that you enter the dispute with a well-reasoned position.

Your next step

Whether you are entitled to the reduction turns on details that are rarely clear-cut at first glance: the installation date of the devices, the type of billing, the deadline position. Send me your heating bill and, where available, documents on the devices that have been fitted — I will check for you whether, and by how much, a reduction is justified, and will enforce your claim against the landlord. On everything to do with tenancies and service-charge statements, I advise you across the whole of property law.

This article provides general information and is no substitute for legal advice in an individual case. Last updated: 2026-10-18.

Christian Czirnich, Rechtsanwalt (attorney at law), Kirchseeon near Munich

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