Tenants across Germany are losing water, gas, or electricity over their landlord’s unpaid bills. This happens even when the tenant is fully paid up on rent and service charges (Nebenkosten).
Losing service over a landlord’s unpaid bill is legal. This is because the utility company’s contract is with the landlord, not with you.
Why doesn’t paying your rent on time protect you?
Most tenants have no direct contract with the water, gas, or electricity provider. Your landlord is the utility’s actual customer, using the Betriebskostenvorauszahlungen you pay as part of your rent.
If the landlord pockets that money instead of forwarding it, the utility can act. It can suspend service to the entire building over the landlord’s debt.
Your own payment record does not shield you from a shutoff caused by your landlord’s debt. You are simply not the utility’s customer of record.
This exact scenario played out at the Hafenplatz complex. It is a 1970s building in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
The complex’s owner is the Hedara-Bauwert company. The company stopped paying its water bills for more than a year.
The arrears reached roughly €800,000. Berliner Wasserbetriebe was set to cut off the entire building.
The district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg stepped in during November. It began covering the bi-monthly water payments itself, to prevent a disconnection.
The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district now plans to recover those covered water payments through the tax office. Hedara separately faces 28 pending cases at Berlin’s regional court.
One resident summed up the frustration to reporters. The landlord, they said, “simply collected it without passing it on.”
NOTE: Stiftung Warentest (test.de) has documented similar cases elsewhere. In Mülheim an der Ruhr, a tenant faced a water cutoff despite being current on payments. In Elsterwerda, around 60 residents went without heating and hot water for more than four weeks.
What does the law actually say about habitability?
Your landlord has an ongoing legal duty to keep your home habitable. Under §535 BGB, that includes making sure electricity, heating, and water work.
If a shutoff happens during your tenancy, you have two rights.
- You can demand the service be restored
- You can also reduce your rent (Mietminderung) under §536 BGB. That rent reduction can reach up to 100% for the affected period.
You may also claim damages for costs the disruption caused, such as hotel stays.
None of these remedies requires you to prove your landlord acted in bad faith. Utility service cannot be retroactively restored once interrupted.
That irreversibility is the whole legal point. A missed day of water or heat cannot simply be handed back to you later.
Because a missed day of service can’t be given back, courts reject a common landlord defense. They will not accept “the tenant hasn’t paid either” as an excuse for a building going dark.
A new criminal offense is being proposed in Thuringia
Thuringia’s Justice Minister, Beate Meißner, is pushing a Bundesrat initiative. It would create a new criminal offense for landlords who deliberately misuse tenants’ utility payments.
The proposal is modeled on §266a of the Criminal Code (StGB). That provision already criminalizes employers who withhold wage contributions.
The proposal would apply only to intentional misconduct. Landlords facing real financial hardship, or who need the funds for property upkeep, would be exempted.
“Wärme und Wasser gehören zur elementaren Daseinsvorsorge,” Meißner said. Heat and water, she argued, are basic public services that paying tenants should never lose.
As of the announcement, the proposal was going through inter-agency coordination. Cabinet approval was targeted for the end of April 2026.
Opposition politicians in Thuringia have criticized the proposal as inadequate. Its final shape may change as a result.
NOTE: This is a state-level Bundesrat initiative, not a passed federal law. It would still need to clear the full Bundesrat and Bundestag process.
What should you do if your landlord’s unpaid bill cuts your service?
Take these steps if a landlord’s unpaid utility bill puts your service at risk:
- Put your landlord on notice in writing. Demand they pay the outstanding utility bill and restore service without delay.
- Contact your local housing authority or tenant association. The Wohnungsamt or a Mieterverein can advise you, especially if the whole building is affected.
- Document everything. Keep your payment records, the dates of the disconnection, and any costs you incurred. You will need them to claim a rent reduction.
- Consider organizing with other tenants. A group can pressure the landlord more effectively, or arrange direct payment to the utility if needed.
- Get legal advice before withholding rent. A rent reduction is your right once a cutoff is confirmed, but timing it wrong can create disputes.
