Renting

Heating in a Luxembourg rental: the questions to ask before October

The heating season here runs roughly from October to April, and the difference between an individual gas system you control and a collective system reconciled once a year through the building accounts is several hundred euros a month and most of your ability to do anything about it.

Individual or collective: the question that governs everything else

Ask this first, at the viewing, and get the answer in writing before you sign.

With individual heating, the apartment has its own boiler or system and you hold your own energy supply contract. You choose the supplier, you see the consumption, and you control the cost. The maintenance obligation for the boiler is allocated by your lease, and in Luxembourg leases annual servicing is frequently the tenant's responsibility, so read that clause rather than assuming.

With collective heating, the building has one system and the cost is distributed through the charges. Consumption is normally allocated using heat-cost allocators on each radiator, reconciled annually when the syndic produces the accounts and the general assembly of co-owners approves them. You have limited control over the tariff and none over the plant.

Neither is inherently better. Collective heating in a well-run modern building can be efficient and predictable. Collective heating in a building whose boiler is in its twentieth year is a future special assessment for the owners and, indirectly, a future charges increase for you.

The supply chain, and why it is split

Newcomers usually assume the energy supplier owns and reads the meter. In Luxembourg the functions are separate. Creos Luxembourg is the network operator for most of the country, plans and maintains the electricity networks and gas pipelines, and carries out meter reading on behalf of every supplier. The meter is part of the network and its price is set by the network manager; the annual reading is performed by a Creos official.

Your supplier sells you the energy and issues the invoice. Enovos is the largest, and the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation has designated Enovos as the default supplier on the Creos network. Leo serves Luxembourg City, and other suppliers operate elsewhere.

The practical point: switching supplier requires no change to the meter or the installation, and it is not the landlord's decision where the contract is in your name. Default supply is regulated but priced above the tariffs generally applied under an ordinary supply contract, so sitting on it for four months because nobody chose is a quiet, avoidable cost. Sign a contract early.

What to inspect at the viewing

• The radiators. Thermostatic valves that turn freely, no rust at the joints, no bleed marks on the wall behind. Count them and check every room has one, including the bathroom.
• The boiler. Where it is, its age, and when it was last serviced. Ask whether the service certificate is available. Photograph the model plate.
• Hot water. Run the tap and note how long it takes to warm. A long delay means the heater sits far from the outlets, which costs water and patience every morning. Run the shower and the kitchen tap simultaneously to test pressure, which is the most common post-move complaint we hear.
• The windows. Put a hand near the frame. Double glazing is standard in Luxembourg new-builds but in converted older stock you will find single glazing on a rear elevation while the street side has been upgraded. A draught in September is a genuine problem in January.
• The energy passport. Every property offered for rent must have one. It gives you the building's thermal class before you see a single radiator, and the gap between a class A new-build and an unrenovated class G townhouse is several hundred euros a month.

The meters, and the reading that protects you

Luxembourg billing runs on estimates and is corrected once a year: bills are calculated on estimated consumption based on the previous year, the meter is read annually, and the balance is adjusted. That reconciliation is where disputes appear, often eight or ten months after the move.

On the day you take the keys, record the serial number and full index of every meter. Where the installation is on a dual tariff, record both registers, because the meter records a daytime period from 06:00 to 22:00 and a night period from 22:00 to 06:00 and a single figure is not enough. Photograph each meter twice: one wide shot showing where it sits, one close shot showing the numbers.

Attach these to the entry inventory rather than leaving them in a phone gallery. A reading both parties signed is a different instrument from one you took alone. Where consumption looks unusual, an interim reading can be made by the provider or requested by the occupier, which is the remedy if the flat stood empty before you arrived.

Collective heating and the charges reconciliation

If the building runs collective heating, the monthly figure you pay is an avance sur charges, an estimate. Ask for the last two years of reconciled accounts rather than the advance, because a building that has recently replaced plant or repointed a facade carries that in the numbers.

This also explains the timing of your deposit. Where the exit inventory matches the entry inventory and rent is paid, half the rental guarantee is due within one month of the handover of keys, and the second half within one month of the annual charges being approved by the general assembly or of the charges statements being received. On a building with collective heating, that second instalment can arrive well over a year after you leave.

Three questions we are asked

Can the landlord require me to use a specific supplier? Where the contract is in your name, the choice is yours and switching involves no physical change to the meter. Where the landlord holds the contract and recharges, which happens in some furnished lettings, the lease should state the basis of the recharge.

Who pays for boiler servicing? It depends on your lease. Annual servicing and small maintenance are commonly allocated to the tenant in Luxembourg residential leases, and the allocation should be explicit in the contract rather than assumed either way.

The flat is cold and the landlord says it is normal. What now? Document it: dated photographs of a thermometer in each room at the same time of day, over a week, with the thermostat setting recorded. Then raise it in writing. If it is not resolved, the commune's rent commission can be petitioned free of charge, and its opinion, while not binding, is frequently followed.

Insulation, ventilation and the condensation problem

A well-sealed apartment heats efficiently and, without ventilation, develops condensation. This is the most common heating-related complaint we see in Luxembourg's newer stock, and it is frequently misdiagnosed as damp penetrating from outside.

Check at the viewing whether the apartment has mechanical ventilation, whether the windows have trickle vents, and whether the bathroom and kitchen extractors work. Then check the corners of external walls and the reveals around windows for any dark bloom, which is the visible signal of a room that is heated and not ventilated.

Where the flat relies on opening windows, the practical routine is short and forceful rather than continuous: open wide for a few minutes twice a day rather than leaving a window ajar all day, which loses heat without exchanging much air. Where condensation appears despite this, document it early with dated photographs and raise it in writing, because a mould problem recorded in month two is a maintenance question and the same problem discovered at the exit inspection is an argument about your rental guarantee.

One further check that costs nothing: ask whether the apartment has ever had a ventilation or damp issue, and ask the outgoing tenant if they are still there. They will answer questions the agent will not.