EXBERLINER Issue 170, April 2018

COLUMN — Ask Hans-Torsten
You are not alone!
Call 030 787 5188
or 01803-AA HELP
Meetings in English
www.alcoholics-anonymous-berlin.de
Update.indd 1 06/10/16 13:01
Q
How to be
a politician
Hans-Torsten Richter gives
you advice on surviving
and thriving in Berlin.
Send your questions to
hanstorsten@exberliner.com
Dear Hans-Torsten: I want to
get more politically involved!
Which office(s) can I run for as a
non-German? – Page
A
Dear Page: Citizens of the European
Union living in Germany have, according
to the office of the Landeswahlleiter
(elections administrator), the right
to vote in and run for office in “communal
elections”. In the case of the Berlin citystate,
that means you can run for a spot on
your local district council, or Bezirksverordnetenversammlung
(BVV). Europeans can
also run for a seat in the European Parliament,
which is better paid – over €8500
per month, compared to €560 as a simple
member of the BVV!
More or less anyone who’s not been
declared criminally insane can run for
office. To get ahead in Germany’s proportional
representation system, it’s easiest
if you work within a political party. So
join a party of your choosing and rise
within its ranks by networking like mad
with higher-ups, being an eager beaver
and volunteering for tedious tasks and
taking up bureaucratic positions with
your local party branch. At party gatherings,
dazzle your comrades as a witty
public speaker! Become an expert on
a couple of hot-button topics and take
a crash course in German rhetorical
speaking while you’re at it. After a few
years, you just might be able to convince
enough members of the party to support
your candidacy.
Or start your own party! The bar is
set pretty low. Foreigners are allowed to
found political parties, but the majority
of the members must be German citizens.
Once it’s been founded and an executive
committee has been elected, the
party will have to collect at least 2000
signatures of support and jump through
a few more bureaucratic hoops in order
to be able to take part in elections. Go to
wahlen-berlin.de and www.bundeswahlleiter.de
for all the detailed election info
you could ever need.
Q
Dear Hans-Torsten: I know about
the Mietspiegel, but how can you tell
if your Hausverwaltung is verarsch-ing you
with exorbitant Nebenkosten requests?
– Barry
A
Dear Barry: Great question. First
some vocab: Nebenkosten (side costs),
officially called Betriebskosten (operating
costs), are the additional costs in your
monthly rental payment on top of the
Kaltmiete (“cold rent”). The Mietspiegel is
an annual chart published by the Berlin
government outlining “typical” average
rents in the different areas of Berlin. On
page 21 of the Mietspiegel 2017 (a PDF
which can be found at www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de)
you will find the “Berliner
Betriebskostenübersicht 2017”, listing average
costs per square metre based on a survey
of the 2015 Betriebskosten of 2500 Berlin
households. The costs themselves can be
broken down into two categories: “cold”
(things like garbage fees, snow removal,
cleaning of common areas and building
insurance) and “warm” (heating and warm
water charges, applicable only if your
building has central heating – if you have a
gas boiler in your flat, you’ll probably make
a separate payment to the provider Gasag).
According to the Betriebskostenspiegel the
“cold” costs averaged €1.59/sqm per month
in Berlin, while the “warm” costs averaged
€0.93. So get out your calculator and
see what you’re paying. If your building
management is requesting significantly
more, something’s up. Building managers
in Berlin are notorious for screwing over
renters with dodgy Betriebskosten demands:
even though it’s your right to see all of the
relevant invoices and documents, the firms
often collude with the various service providers.
Unfortunately the Betriebskostenspiegel
provided by the Berlin government
is not legally binding, but it can signal
when you should be taking further action:
by confronting the Hausverwaltung about
it, or by engaging a renter’s association or
lawyer if that doesn’t help.
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EXBERLINER 170