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| Unless the Gemeinde is the landlord, I wouldn't think they have any idea what the heating costs have been. How and why would they? This is something that you need to find out from the landlord, although generally, in houses, the costs for oil would be paid directly by the tenant, unless something else was agreed.
Service on the heating system may have to be paid by the tenant, but that is something that should be agreed in the rental contract. Maybe there is a Service contract already in place, in which case the costs (for service at least) should be quite transparent. | |
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Ah okay right. A little brain fart. I was thinking about the garbage and other services... I think water is through the Gemeinde, so I mentally lumped in heat.
The landlord told me the average cost, and I was fine with it. I'm used to the US though and never trusting anyone in the rental market, and so always double checking the numbers with them directly. So I don't know here, I guess I would just ask the landlord like you say-- what company is handling the heating, can I double-check the price with them, plus, what type of service agreement is there if any, and if the system breaks down or needs some costly replacement or becomes illegal to operate... who pays for it.
I wouldn't have thought a tenant could be responsible for this type of thing. So far my impression in Switzerland has been that renters are relatively safe from any unreasonable costs or risks, but I don't know if that's really true.