Tenants’ revolt against property management in Huttwil BE: residents will have to pay 143,000 francs in additional costs

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Rural paradise surrounded by meadows, forests and affordable rents: But now dark clouds are gathering over the households on Sonneggstrasse 2 and 4 in Huttwil BE. Those living in two apartment buildings with 36 flats must transfer an additional 143,046 francs to their administration for their additional expenses in the last three years alone. “This is horror,” Dzevad Smajovic (46) tells Blick.

He is one of the affected tenants who has to pay the most additional costs. For Smajovic, this figure is almost 18,000 francs. Other tenants must add 5,000, 6,000 or even 8,000 francs to their additional costs retroactively for the last few years. For Léon Dossé (75) this figure is over 7,600 francs for three years. “I thought they were crazy and there was an error in the calculation,” says the retiree, who lives in a 3.5-room flat with his partner.

22 households appear before the arbitration authority

The huge demonstration during the site visit shows how big the problem is on Sonneggstrasse. 27 tenants and a few children gather. Only the project’s underground parking lot offers enough space for hot pot. Their Zurich-based management does not want to accept Crowdhouse’s demands without encountering resistance. Tenant Christoph Buchmann (50) is the spokesman for the angry residents and on their behalf filed an appeal with the rent arbitration authority against the “totally exorbitant bills”. 22 households have already participated. Buchmann: “We believe that Crowdhouse continues to send false invoices and we want the arbitration authority to explain this once and for all.”

Tenants have serious allegations against Crowdhouse: there is talk of opaque and arbitrary billing, as well as pure rip-offs and bait-and-switch offers for empty flats where returns are optimized through additional costs.

The management defended itself against the allegations

“Crowdhouse has nothing to hide, creates clean invoices and provides full access to all tenants as required by law,” Crowdhouse spokesman Michael Meier said of the allegations. Authorities began the arbitration process and summoned Crowdhouse on Friday. Meier undertakes to send the necessary documents to the arbitration authority.

The management does not want to know anything about the robberies: “We regret that we did not detect and correct earlier the sometimes significant deviations between the planned payments on the account and the corresponding additional payments.” Meier adds: “There was never any intention on our part to facilitate the rental of the relevant units by setting deliberately low advance payments.”

Katja B.* (63) was also hit hard. An early retiree lives in a 3.5-room apartment. He sees that his existence is threatened. “Food and everything has become more expensive. “I cannot afford the additional 2,000 francs due to the additional expenses.”

Blick has hundreds of pages of utility bills from affected tenants. What’s striking: The 36,000 francs a third-party company pays for the concierge service alone consumes more than half of the payments for many apartments.

Meier, the Crowdhouse spokesperson, says the majority of payments agreed to on the account were determined when the property was first rented: “At this point there was no empirical data on the operating costs of the property and therefore no basis for additional anticipated costs.” Following Blick’s question, the management now wants to review its cooperation with the concierge company.

The bills also show that hot water, water and wastewater costs are extremely high for tenants with the highest additional demands. Tenants accuse management of not reading meters. “Of course, the relevant meters are read correctly. There are radio meters on the property that are read monthly by the radio,” Meier replies.

Here’s what Crowdhouse has to say about the huge increase in costs

The following also draws attention in the statements: Four years ago, all tenants had to pay 4,883 francs more for an additional cost of 85,763 francs for a year. In the last three years an average of 48,000 francs suddenly had to be paid in arrears. How could it be? Crowdhouse spokesman Michael Meier explains: “When billing four years ago, some basic costs for water and energy were not passed through, even though they were stipulated in the lease agreements. This practice has been adjusted in more recent invoices.”

The explanations from their management are not enough for those affected. Authorities need to mediate. They don’t want to surrender. Tenant spokesman Buchmann: “In the worst case scenario, we will go to court.”

*Editor’s name known

Source :Blick