Drainage charge: Who’s paying in a tenancy?

Drainage charge: Who’s paying in a tenancy?

When you are in a tenancy, you may assume that your landlord is paying all the annoying bills related to the apartment building. It is often the case, but not always. You can actually be liable for paying the drainage fee. In this article we will inform you about whether you or your landlord is liable for the drainage fee. 

What is drainage fee?

Everyone who lives in a house or a apartment that is connected to a sewer must pay a drainage fee. It is the owner of the building who gets the bill. When you live for rent, it is your landlord who receives the bill. But is it the landlord or the tenant who has to pay it?

Does the tenant have to pay drainage fee?

Whether you are liable for the drainage fee as a tenant or not depends on what is stated in your lease. In cases where you have a “clean” rent, ie. that you don’t pay water on account, the drainage fee will be included in your rent. If you pay water on account and there are no separate meters in the individual leases, you are not responsible to pay the drainage fee. You must pay the drainage fee if you pay water on account and there is a separate meter in your lease. 

Why should you get help from DIGURA?

Every month, we help thousands of tenants both via our membership solution and our case processing. When we process the cases, we achieve a positive result for the tenants in 98% of the cases. We are here to help you who are potentially being deceived by your landlord, and you who actually want to keep the money you are entitled to.

Water on account or not - that's the crucial thing

It is written in your lease whether water is included in your rent or not. It will appear at § 3 in your lease. If it says an amount, you are paying on account. If there is no amount, you are not paying on account. 

You also need to check § 5 in your lease. It informs you whether the landlord supplies water for the lease. If so, you need to check if there is individual meters in each tenancy. If both are the case, if you are legally required to pay water on account (and so you can be liable for the drainage fee). 

  • There are actually three scenarios in your tenancy:
    Water is included in your rent (and not on account): Your landlord is liable for drainage fee.
  • You pay a monthly amount on account for water, and individual consumption meters have been set up: The tenant is liable for the drainage fee. 
  • You pay a monthly amount on account for water, and no individual consumption meters have been set up: The landlord is liable for the drainage fee, as it is illegal to charge an on account payment.
 

Drainage fee is a municipal fee

The drainage fee is a municipal expense, which is settled directly with the owner of the building. This means that even if you as a tenant are responsible for the settlement of the drainage fee, the bill will not go directly to the tenant, but to the landlord. The landlord must then give it to the tenant. 

When the landlord receives the bill, the tenant cannot demand that the landlord submit a water account  – however, the landlord must still make an water account in relation to the rules in Chapter 7 of the Rent Act. The landlord does not have to make an individual account because he has nothing to do with the consumption the landlord does not have to make an individual account because he has nothing to do with the consumption. 

Drainage fee MUST be paid

The cost of drainage fee can be very high and often at a five-digit amount, which is obviously an unpleasant surprise. Therefore, some people refuses to pay the bill. It is not a good idea as your landlord may actually terminate the lease on that basis.

Get legal advice and avoid being deceived

This topic can be very complicated as a tenant. The above is to be seen as a general guidance and not as downright legal advice. We always recommend that you contact us to ensure that you get the proper necessary legal advice that is relevant for your specific case.

You can get help with this topic but also any other matters you may have. Unfortunately, we see many tenants that are being deceived. Often, they miss out on a lot of money – anything from a couple thousands to 30-40,000 kroner. Imagine what else you could spend the money on.

Let us help you

At DIGURA we are always available and easy to reach, you have your own legal advisor, and best of all you only pay if we win your case. Therefore, it is risk free for you to get help from us.

We have achieved a positive result for tenants in 98% of all the cases that we have processed. We have a 9,3 score on Trustpilot, 5 star rating on Facebook, and we have helped more than 1000 tenants. We really want to help you too.

If you are unsure about anything in the article, our team is ready to help in the chat. You can find the chat in the bottom right corner.

If you need legal advice, you can get your case assessed below. It is free and our competent legal team will make a non-committal assessment of your case.

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