New (recalculated) land tax

[Emkay]

We just got our bill, house built 2007. Grundsteuer reduced by 45%. Water increased by 59%. My mother’s house, built 1911, in a neighbouring town went up by 760%. At least that Gemeinde didn’t increase anything else. Not sure if it’s a regional thing though it seems that properties older than the 1960‘s have had the highest increases. Really difficult for many, especially pensioners. With other utility etc increases, it’s possible to save on consumption as best as possible….can’t change the age of a home though.

[Eric7]

Ours went from €260 to €340 a year.
Not had any notification about water going up yet.

[Krieg]

We just got our bill, house built 2007. Grundsteuer reduced by 45%. Water increased by 59%. My mother’s house, built 1911, in a neighbouring town went up by 760%. At least that Gemeinde didn’t increase anything else. Not sure if it’s a regional thing though it seems that properties older than the 1960‘s have had the highest increases. Really difficult for many, especially pensioners. With other utility etc increases, it’s possible to save on consumption as best as possible….can’t change the age of a home though.

I think the whole intention of the reform was to make things fairer for everyone, some people were paying literally peanuts for their land taxes because the last valuation of the property was done in the 50s, so for example and increase from 50 EUR a year to 450 EUR is indeed a 9x increase but paying 50 EUR a year while other people were paying 600 EUR a year for a property of similar size in a similar area was not fair either. From what I've seen from the reform, for plenty of people what were paying a lot it actually got reduced.

[dstanners]

We have just received ours. It has gone up by 900%. No, that is not a typo.

[Eric7]

We have just received ours. It has gone up by 900%. No, that is not a typo.

What's that in Euros though?

[dstanners]

Just under 2k. I know that means it's still not exactly a huge sum, but it is an exceptional increase.
I guess it's the price for living in a cash strapped if beautiful area, here in the glorious (and increasingly expensive) Eifel.

[Eric7]

Just under 2k. I know that means it's still not exactly a huge sum, but it is an exceptional increase.
I guess it's the price for living in a cash strapped if beautiful area, here in the glorious (and increasingly expensive) Eifel.

Wow, that is a lot!

[dstanners]

I am going to speak with a few neighbours to check they've had the same sort of thing, as it does seem excessive.

All I can think of is that it seems the calculation date was at the end of 2022. House and land values have increased around here massively in the last 5-6 years, and the end of '22 saw a peak as demand significantly outstripped supply due to people needing new homes after the floods. Prices haven't fallen since, but investors are sitting on land and waiting to build, whereas in 22/23 they could put up any new build and sell it before the plaster was dry.
Of course I might be way off - as Grundsteuer used to be so low (compared to, say UK council tax), I never really bothered looking into how it was calculated (or for that matter, even what it was for).