Invoice for water connection despite payment through property price?

Hello dear forum community!

Two years ago we purchased a plot of land from a municipality.

Included in the sale price was an advance payment for the construction of "the facilities for water supply." According to the purchase contract, the basis for calculation is the plot area as well as the floor area of the future building, which was estimated at a flat rate of 25% for this advance payment.

This resulted in a sum of around €1,300 – due to the size of our house and the consequently increased floor area, we are still expecting an additional payment to the municipality of about €1,200.

Now we have received an invoice from a civil engineering company which is completely unknown to us. It charges additional costs of around €1,600 for a property connection. Of a total connection length of 18.7 meters, 8.7 meters are billed. That is nearly €190 per running meter.

When we inquired, both the municipality and the company explained that "this is how it is handled here," meaning that everything over 10 meters has to be paid for by the owner.

My first step was therefore to consult the municipality’s statutes regarding the water connection. However, nothing is mentioned here about a length limit or anything similar. Only the amounts per square meter of land and floor area already stated in the property purchase contract are listed.

Neither the company nor the municipality has so far been able to provide an exact basis for the calculation. I have asked the municipality for a written statement. During this complaint about the invoice, the municipality has now, "as a gesture of goodwill," explained by phone that they would cover some of the meters of cost.

I promptly received a new invoice from the civil engineering company (with the same date from 2017...) and number.

Somewhat bizarre for me: an invoice is either correct and must be paid, or it is not. When it comes to property acquisition, we are not exactly at a fish market.

I am certainly not the most experienced person in this regard – could you give me some information?

In my research I found that what is commonly called a "house water connection" usually does not include things like the installation INSIDE the building (the bracket for the water meter and the outlet valve).

I look forward to any input!

Regards!

Certainly not a pleasant situation. Especially with the municipality, you generally don’t want to be on bad terms. But from my perspective, you acted completely correctly. If money is demanded, they have to explain to you on what legal basis. And as long as they cannot do that, I would stay relaxed. The problem is always that the smaller the municipality, the more personal the whole thing is, and maybe they remember your name in case you later need a permit for something you don’t have a mandatory claim to. Or the village sheriff might drop by more often to check if you are meticulously complying with all the regulations. A bit paranoid, but it is a long-term relationship between you. I know the small village mayors and the building authorities here, which consist of 2 employees.

Hello Fuchur, I share your view regarding the size of the municipality – that can indeed become very unpleasant. To me, this just seems completely strange. For about 4 weeks now I have been trying to obtain a basis for the invoice – and nothing comes except "that's how we do it here." It all sounds very much like "we forgot something" and now the invoice is simply being sent. I was under the impression that the costs for the water connection are billed via a fee notice from the municipality.

Also, of course, against the background that according to the statutes the municipality wants to retain ownership of the pipes. However, it should be the case that if a company invoices me for 10 meters of water pipe, after payment it also belongs to me. The municipality, in turn, is obliged by statute to supply me with water. But if they don’t own the pipe, I could charge 100€ usage fee per cubic meter.

Is anyone aware of a similar case? Are there mechanisms in municipal administration to enforce a right to information? In response to my request for a written statement, there were only two calls without specifics...

So with us it is also only 10 m inclusive for both water and gas

I suspect the same regarding the error. So, in public law, I charge a fee for a service according to a fee statute or regulation. This fee is cost-covering, no more and no less. The citizen has a right to have me prove this cost coverage principle to him. It is not a price that I can set according to the market situation, because the citizen cannot choose; in this case, he must take my water and my pipe. Now it can happen that the municipality does not have this piping done by its own building yard, but by an external company that has a lump sum contract with the municipality. 50 properties, up to 500 m of pipe, such and such depth, such and such price. So far so good. But with you, it is 8.70 m more than the 10 m. And with Hermanns, it was 7.30 m more, etc. etc. Who pays for that? The civil engineer says, I want to be paid for that. The municipality says, but not by us. We have a contract. The civil engineer says, then I’ll dig 10 m and stop. The municipality says, no, that won’t work, the citizen has a right to a water connection, that is also true. Ok, we will send invoices, let’s see if it works. You have your notary who performed the notarization. Talk to him about what you actually paid in advance. I would really be interested. First of all, the thing smells fishy. Karsten

I put forward the assumption that the cost for the land purchase was a construction cost subsidy and the invoice now is for the actual house connection. That would be quite normal.