City-Wohnen stands for transparency for comparing rents! In order to compare the rents and price performance ratios of the furnished homes correctly, the apartment rents stated in the descriptions are warm rents, i.e. including all additional expenses, such as utilities.
The rental price of a furnished accommodation is stated in both the exposé and the lease agreement whether the additional costs are included as lump sums or prepayments. The big difference between a lump sum and a prepayment is the later settlement of the actual consumption costs.
In the case of temporary accommodations, consumption costs such as electricity and water are usually included as a lump sum in the rent. This means that there is no separate billing based on actual consumption. This also makes sense for short-term rentals of a few months because otherwise lessees would have to wait for the annual statement to arrive before settling final costs. All costs are already covered by the rent. There is no additional payment or refund.
For longer rental periods, consumption cannot be estimated as accurately, so the rent sometimes includes monthly prepayments for utilities. In the case of prepayments, utilities such as electricity, water and gas are charged according to consumption. The amounts for the prepayments must be stated in the lease. The lessee receives an invoice for the difference between the prepayment and the actual consumption costs. If the lessee paid too much, the difference must be paid back. If the lessee paid too little in prepayments, they must pay the difference. In the case of prepayments, the amounts for the prepayment should be estimated as realistically as possible.
Although this is seldom the case with furnished rentals, it does happen that lessees have to sign up directly for utilities such as electricity and water, therefore receiving utility bills directly. That happens occasionally if, for example, a readable electric meter is present. These costs are on top of the rent.
In most cases, a final cleaning is agreed upon in the rental contract and can be deducted from the deposit. Usually a final cleaning is agreed upon according to the amount of time and work, so the final cost depends on how well you have treated the apartment. If the rental parties agree on a fixed amount, then this amount always applies to a normal cleaning. An additional expenditure can be charged, for example, if there are substantial lime and scale deposits in the bathroom. You can find information about cleaning here: cleaning interim apartments →
Depending on the rental period, there is a security deposit of one or two months’ rent for furnished apartments. This deposit may generally not exceed three exclusive or “cold” rents (as per German law § 551 Abs.1 BGB). If everything was in order at the move-out apartment inspection and all outstanding invoices were paid, the deposit will be refunded in full. The deposit is returned after the end of the lease and may not be offset against the last monthly rent.
For apartments with the kommood (resp. KOMFORT) service package, the deposit can be held in the City-Wohnen escrow account. Alternatively, many lessors also accept bank or company guarantees.
Read more about the security deposit →