The owner of my previous apartment was a large real estate company in Switzerland, not a small landlord. I left the apartment handing over the keys more than 7 months ago, plus the 3 months notice period. Months ago I got my deposit back minus some expenses.
This week the real estate company sent me new pending expenses (heating, elevator... of dates during my stay) that I had not been notified of until now.
In my opinion they have had more than enough time to send me all the outstanding invoices (3 months notice + 7 months after the end of the contract).
There must be a period after which the invoices/expenses are no longer applicable, and they can't charge me. A bit absurd, but I don't think they can send me an invoice after 10 years and be obliged to pay it.
What is the period legally in Switzerland during which they can continue to send me old invoices after terminating a contract?
It is a large company. It is not a small landlord. I don't feel sorry for them.
Sounds normal as the heating use is checked only once a year, here it is always in January. So you ́d get an invoice or repayment on that only after the whole year has been finalized.
You owe that money, it is for bills you incurred while living in the apartment (the dates you say you stayed) and they are checked on an annual basis. Whether the company is large or small or you feel sorry for them or not makes no difference... because you owe them that money.
What exactly does it say the invoice is for? E.g. does it specify heating and elevator expenses for the period Jan-May 2021?
In all cases, you are totally on the hook for these expenses, and it is perfectly normal that you are only receiving the invoices now, as they are calculated once per year.
It's not exactly a delay, but normal timing for such matters.
The landlords buy in supplies of oil (or subscribe to whatever other system of heating they have installed) and they pay all the heating bills. They cannot know how much that will be until the heating season is over (some time in Spring). After all, the weather during the season cannot be predicted, nor can the behaviour of the tenants, who may turn the heating in their own flat up or down.
In the meantime, each month, in the heating and the non-heating seasons, the tenant pays an approximate amount towards heating. It is an informed guess, based on the landlord's total heating bill in previous years, and any other factors the landlord anticipates (such as an increase in the oil price).
When they switch the heating off for the summer, they add up the total costs, and divide them, by some formula (e.g. size of flat in square meters, or numer of rooms, or number of people living there... various methods are permissible) attempt to fairly apportion the total heating costs across all the tenants. From the amount that you owe, they then deduct the amounts you've already paid in each month as "Nebenkosten und Heizung". The difference will be billed to you or, as the case may be, refunded to you.
The same applies, more or less, for other costs such as gas and the elevator.
Since the bill is tallied up based on the real, not approximative, costs, it stands to reason that no landlord can properly know the amount until some time after the heating season is over.
This isn't talking about HK /NK though. The usual rule of thumb is 5 years after the bill should have been sent. I think it's rather unprofessional if a company sends it over a year later but 6 months is completely normal.
Many electricity and water companies only send a yearly bill so that you have to wait a few months is the only logical conclusion.
Look on the bright side...you got your deposit back. In many cases the property manager will refuse to release any of this until all the final bills have been paid. Still I understand how annoying it is to get another bill when you think you are all done with paying for the previous flat.
Once oil heating is phased out, as is the long term plan in Kanton Zurich, maybe there won't be this type of delay in sending bills. Electricity and water meters are read in a more timely fashion it would appear. It does seem to take ages to get the heating bills done for these buildings with oil heating.
Many elevator companies offer an annual maintenance contract and the cost of this is built into the NK to be paid by the tenant. Use of an elevator is just one of the many components of the NK for the common areas.
It seems the property manager may have neglected to mention to the tenant at the handover that the final accounting for the NK was not completed. Maybe they just assumed the tenant knew this.
You genuinely believe oil heating will be phased out......not during our lifetime, that is for sure, especially now Putain has shown us how he controls the gas flows.