According to § 292 (11) of the Law of Obligations Act, in the case of a dwelling lease agreement, the tenant is obligated to bear the costs necessary for the maintenance and improvement of the entire building to a reasonable, proportional, and foreseeable extent if the landlord and the tenant have agreed to this upon entry to the contract.
However, in the explanatory memorandum 232 SE, the legislator has clarified that the repair fund costs must be foreseeable and cannot increase significantly. If the relevant costs are slightly higher in some months due to a few necessary works, this should not be problematic, but if extensive renovation work is decided upon in the building, the obligation initially agreed upon cannot, for example, increase several times over for the tenant. For example, if the repair fund was previously a cost of around 50 euros per month for the tenant, but at some point, this cost becomes 150 euros, which is a threefold increase, such a steep rise is not covered by the previous agreement and is therefore not the tenant's responsibility. However, the tenant is still obligated to pay the increased maintenance fund cost to a reasonable extent.
The landlord's interests are safeguarded by the fact that if his obligations actually increase, but cannot be transferred to the tenant due to the above, he may use the option of raising the rent, taking into account the restrictions provided in the rent increase regulation. It is advisable for the parties to reach an agreement on the sharing of significantly increased costs.
NB! The same principle applies to the payments on the apartment association loan indicated in the utility bills.