Ghent (The Brussels Morning newspaper): Thuispunt Gent discovered errors in rent calculations after a tenant’s complaint. They corrected these mistakes resulting in small refunds for most tenants while some may owe a little extra.
The issue started at Thuispunt Ghent a housing organization in Ghent when a tenant noticed a big and surprising increase in their rent. This made the tenant file a complaint because they were worried about the sudden rise in costs. After looking into the complaint Thuispunt Ghent found that the tenant’s concerns were based on correctly calculated costs. However this situation made them review their entire system for calculating rent charges more closely. During their thorough review Thuispunt Ghent found mistakes in how some charges were calculated for other tenants. These mistakes were not related to the first complaint but came up while they were checking their processes. Thuispunt Ghent has now fixed these errors making sure that the affected tenants are charged the right amounts. This situation shows how important it is to regularly check and review administrative systems especially in organizations that deal with money and billing to catch and fix any problems quickly.
How is Thuispunt Ghent addressing heating cost invoice errors?
The invoices from 2020 and 2021 show a repeated problem with the maintenance costs for central heating in empty homes. The main mistake is that only part of these costs was included on the invoices. Instead of showing the full cost of keeping the central heating systems in unoccupied properties only a percentage of the costs was reported and billed. This means that the true financial burden of maintaining these systems was not accurately shown on the invoices. Thuispunt Ghent the organization in charge of these expenses should have made sure that the full cost of maintaining central heating in empty homes was included in the bills. Not doing this has caused problems with financial reporting and could lead to not covering all the costs. To fix this Thuispunt Ghent needs to correct the invoices and make sure that future maintenance charges are fully and accurately recorded.
Most social tenants will get a small refund on their bills probably around 3 to 5 euros a month. They still need to check each person’s case because some might have to pay a little extra. If there’s no lift or individual heating there won’t be any refund. In some buildings there aren’t any empty homes so no one will get money back there either. It’s a big amount for the organization but for each tenant it will just be a small amount as Heughebaert said.
