Real estate: until when can a trustee claim the regularization of rental charges?
A Toulouse tenant whose rent will increase wonders: can a real estate agency and a trustee claim the regularization of charges two years after the facts?
The year 2023 did not start very well for Céline (assumed first name). Last Thursday, the 30-year-old woman received a phone call from her real estate agency. “I was told that they were in the process of regularizing the charges for 2021 and that due to several shortcomings on their part and on the part of the trustee that year, the rent for my apartment located in Rangueuil was going to increase. . »
Céline learns that she will have to pay 322 euros for unpaid bills for 2021 as well as 30 euros more per month for her charges, which include water and collective heating. Amounts then reassessed downwards but which still represent a certain amount for the young saleswoman. “My rent will go from 570 to 600 euros per month in 2023, it’s not negligible when you’re on the minimum wage! »
Following her mother’s advice, Céline made an appointment with a legal conciliator this week. She wonders: “Do I have to pay for the errors of my trustee and my agency two years later? A question that is all the more crucial since she already knows that her rent will soon increase due to the rise in the cost of energy.
Possible regularizations for three years
According to Xavier Martin, lawyer in real estate law within the Association of owners and co-owners 31 09, regularizations are possible for a period of three years. “Once the documents have been received, the tenant must ensure that the expenses requested are inherent to his period of occupation, and adapted to the decree of August 26, 1987. It may also request access to evidence. If one of these criteria fails, she can contest. “The lawyer specifies that the tenant can also pay his charges in a “smoothed way”.