missed electricity cost registration
October 2, 2009 | 20,00 EUR | answered by Andreas Scholz
Dear Sir or Madam,
Upon moving into the rental apartment on October 1, 2005, I forgot to register for electricity. This was not intentional. The previous tenant never left a note or reminder in the utility bill. Now, upon moving out, the landlord presented me with the entire electricity bill. He had been paying this himself as he was the previous occupant of the apartment. Now the question arises as to whether I am required to reimburse him for these electricity costs, or if a statute of limitations applies. According to the utility company, these claims seem to expire after three years.
Kind regards,
Ute Schmidt
Dear questioner,
The electricity cost payments made by your landlord will generally need to be reimbursed by you. Your landlord has a claim for reimbursement as compensation for expenses according to §§ 683, 670 BGB.
The only question is the extent to which the statute of limitations has occurred. Claims regulated in §§ 683, 670 BGB expire after the regular limitation period of three years. The limitation period for the claim begins at the end of the year in which the claim arose. Therefore, claims arising before 1.1.06 have expired. All claims arising from 1.1.06 expire no earlier than the end of 2010.
I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any further questions, please ask.
Best regards,
Andreas Scholz, Attorney
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