Homeowners' Association and Heating Costs: Your Rights in an Apartment

Questioner

I bought an apartment over a year ago and I get a statement of the heating costs and now it turns out that the VVE has estimated the consumption costs for 5 years, but that was much too low. Now they want to force me to pay for all the costs that were calculated too low, while I have only lived there for a year. I should contact the previous occupant to recover the costs from the previous occupant, but I believe that this is a problem of the VVE and not mine. Who is in the right?

Lawyer

Based on the deed of division, the VvE can recover costs that are for the joint account from the members of the VvE. In principle, the VvE is not bound by complications between successive owners. I advise you to check in the purchase agreement and the deed of delivery whether there is a possibility to recover the part of the costs that relate to the period before you moved into the apartment from the seller. If it is not possible to pass the costs on to the previous owner, the VvE must pay the costs itself. However, you will then still pay (part of) those costs via the owner's contribution.