Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

RENTING

How tenants in Austria can save money from July 2023

Starting Saturday, a new law comes into effect in Austria that will save tenants a fee that can typically amount to the equivalent of two months rent.

Published: 30 June 2023 17:11 CEST
How tenants in Austria can save money from July 2023
Tenants could see some relief around a particular brokerage fee starting in July. (Photo by Abi Tripp / Unsplash)

Saturday’s big change for tenants concerns the payment of brokerage fees, also known as “Provision.”

The federal government has announced an amendment to the renter’s law, introducing the buyer’s principle, or Bestellerprinzip, for apartment rentals.

Under the current system, tenants are responsible for various fees, including a security deposit and the first month’s rent when they move into a new apartment. One of these fees is the Provision, a brokerage fee equivalent to two months’ rent, which tenants must pay even if they find the apartment online or if the property owner is the one who engages the services of a brokerage firm.

However, starting in July, the responsibility of paying the brokerage fee will be on the party that hires the real estate agency.

Unless the property is privately rented directly by the owner without involving a brokerage firm (in which case there should be no fee), the cost will now need to be paid by the individual or entity that engages the agency’s services.

This change aims to provide a fairer and more transparent system for tenants, relieving them of the financial burden of paying the brokerage fee when not using the services of a real estate agency for apartment rentals.

READ MORE: CONFIRMED: Austria to scrap broker’s fee on apartment rentals in 2023

Some rents to increase

However, renters aren’t completely off the hook when it comes to rising costs.

Starting from July 1st, Austria will see a 5.51 percent increase in category rents, impacting approximately 135,000 households nationwide.

READ ALSO: Renting in Austria: When can my landlord increase the rent, and by how much?

The Rent Law Act mandates that if inflation surpasses 5 percent, the Minister of Justice must declare a rent increase.  This adjustment applies to all tenants residing in buildings governed by the Tenancy Act (MRG) and whose lease agreements were entered into before March 1st, 1994.

Therefore the effects are generally limited to those on very old leases.

Member comments

  1. Maybe I’m not reading this correctly. Apparently we still have to pay the fee if the agent posts the apartment online? But if an apartment is posted online, the agent/agency has been hired by the landlord, correct? Or do we (tennant) still have to “hire” the agency? If this is the case, the law is completely useless. Greatful for some answers/clarity. Thanks in advance

    1. Hi! If the apartment has been posted online, it may have been done so by the landlord (in which case there should be no fee for anyone) or by the agency that the landlord hired (in which case the landlord pays for the service). Tenants will only pay a brokerage fee if they hire an agent.

      I hope that clarifies things, but long story short: the person that hires a brokerage firm pays for the service.

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

HEALTH

Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Waiting times to get appointments with health specialists in Vienna have increased significantly, a new study has revealed.

Published: 17 May 2024 09:56 CEST
Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Accessing essential healthcare within a reasonable timeframe is becoming increasingly difficult for Viennese residents.

The Vienna Medical Association presented their new study this week which shows that waiting times for appointments with health specialists have increased significantly in recent years.

The study, which involved contacting over 850 doctors’ practices via so-called “mystery calls,” revealed that child and adolescent psychiatry currently had the longest waiting times in the city.

Patients can expect to wait an average of 90 days for an appointment.

Other specialisations where patients have to wait long to receive help include radiology (57 days), neurology (45 days), ophthalmology (44 days), pulmonology (36 days), internal medicine (33 days), and dermatology (28 days).

The waiting time for seeing a gynaecologist has increased fourfold since 2012, with patients now waiting an average of 32 days.

READ MORE: Why are there fewer public sector doctors in Austria?

No new patients accepted

In certain specialist areas, there is no capacity to accommodate new patients. The situation where no new patients are accepted occurs particularly often in paediatric practices, where more than half of the public healthcare practices have put a freeze on admissions.

In child and adolescent psychiatry, 40 percent do not accept new patients, and among gynaecologists, it is almost a third (30 percent). Family doctors also struggle with welcoming new patients, and many of their practices have already reached full capacity.

The Medical Association calls for immediate action, urging the health insurance sector to become more attractive and receive better funding. This could involve measures to incentivise doctors to work within the public system, potentially reducing wait times and improving patient access to care.

During the study presentation, Johannes Steinhart, president of the association, described the increased waiting times as the result of neglect within the established health insurance sector. He said he believes that the public health system is massively endangered.

Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, chairwoman of the Curia of the resident doctors in the association, pointed out that while the population of the federal capital has grown by 16 percent since 2012, the number of public doctors has fallen by 12 percent in the same period.

The association now wants to make the public healthcare system more attractive to doctors, which could cut down waiting times and make it easier for patients to receive care. The association’s demands for this to happen include increasing flexibility in contract options, integrating health and social professions in individual practices, reducing bureaucracy, and improving fees.

ÖGK, Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, Austria’s largest public healthcare fund, is currently creating 100 additional public health positions, with almost two-thirds of the positions already having applicants, as well as planning for another 100 positions. They also aim to create a central telemedicine service and a platform for making appointments by phone and online, which is meant to reduce waiting times and improve access to care.

SHOW COMMENTS