- Increases in advance payments for electricity and gas lead to additional monthly financial burden
- Deposit guarantees can bridge liquidity gaps
Wiesbaden, 8 February 2023 – Almost 62 percent of families are concerned that they may be unable to meet high tenant service charges, despite various relief and support measures. In addition, around 63 percent, especially young people aged between 18 and 29, worry about having cash flow difficulties. These are among the findings of a survey of German tenants conducted between October and the end of December 2022 by digital market and opinion research company Civey on behalf of Aareal's subsidiary plusForta GmbH.
For many tenant households, increases in advance payments for electricity and gas in the last few months have already led to noticeable additional monthly expenses. Moreover, many tenants will only receive their final service charges bill for the last year during the course of this year. Although it appears that price movements are currently slowing and the situation in the energy market has eased slightly, for many people the fear of a financial shortfall remains high.
One feasible way of creating liquidity rapidly and autonomously is to convert a cash security deposit into a tenant deposit guarantee. Dominik Brieler, Managing Director at plusForta GmbH, explains how this works: "Housing enterprises and administrators offer tenants concerned the option to withdraw the tenant deposit that they have lodged, for example, in a security deposit account. In its place they arrange a tenant deposit guarantee, which serves to provide the equivalent level of collateral."
In contrast to a security deposit lodged in cash, a tenant deposit guarantee is essentially an insurance policy, which can be taken out by the tenant with specialist providers after an appropriate credit check. While the tenant pays a small monthly premium for the insurance, a deed of guarantee must be deposited with the landlord as collateral. If a loss event occurs, a guarantor assumes liability for the tenant, so the landlord is hedged in full in exactly the same way as with a cash deposit. At the same time, releasing the cash deposit frees up funds for tenants that can help them, during the current situation, to settle their high service charges bill. The conversion can be carried out quickly and conveniently online from home and is significantly easier to arrange than a loan application, for example.
The results of the Civey survey on concerns regarding rising tenant service charges can be found here (in German only).
Information on the methodology
On behalf of plusForta GmbH, Civey conducted an online nationwide survey of 1,000 tenants aged over 18 years from 14 September 2022 until 31 December 2022. Due to quotations and weightings, the results are representative taking into account a statistical error of 5.7-6.4 percentage points (total result). You can find further information on the methodology at Civey.com.
