We are always happy to speak with you and want to help you obtain fast, uncomplicated answers to your questions. We have therefore collated all our frequently asked questions, summarised them and publicly answered them at this point. If you cannot find answer to your question in our FAQ section, we can of course offer you advice by email, telephone or on-site at one of our service centres.
As the largest housing association in Jena, jenawohnen has a total property portfolio of around 14,400 living units of which there are:
Half of our properties are located in east Lobeda and west Lobeda. They were built between the 1950s and 1980s as multi-level constructions, have been renovated or partly renovated and are differently furnished.
The Jena Lobeda district lies to the south of the city centre. It is well connected to the motorway which has been tunnelled over in recent years. The medical centre and numerous doctor’s surgeries provide excellent healthcare provision. There are various types of school to choose from, making Lobeda a particularly attractive place to live for families with children who are still at school.
Lobeda’s main appeal is its proximity to nature! You are only a few minutes away from the country: pure relaxation close to the city.
Our apartments in the city centre, Jena-West, Jena-North and Jena-East are centrally located but nevertheless mostly in quiet surroundings. Jena's idyllic valley location also offers city dwellers charming views of the country. Lovingly designed rear courtyards, playgrounds and sports pitches, green areas with mature trees and numerous places to take a seat all make the city a pleasant place to live.
Jena offers many advantages:
Numerous well-known companies, institutes and research institutions make Jena an attractive business location.
With 3,450 properties, we are the largest housing provider in Jena Winzerla. Our trademark touch is just as apparent in our properties as in the residential surroundings. We therefore place high importance on having well-maintained outside areas, play areas and sports facilities.
Winzerla lies in south-west Jena, just a few minutes’ drive from the town centre. Other advantages: close to Jena’s green hillsides and forests, with ideal connections to local public transport and the motorway.
Since 2006, jenawohnen has also been offering rental accommodation in the town of Blankenhain and its surrounding communities. Surrounded by forests, meadows and rolling hills, the little town of Blankenhain offers a good alternative for anyone wanting to live outside the hustle and bustle of a major city. But it’s not only the scenic qualities that make Blankenhain an attractive place to live. A good urban infrastructure meets the needs of both young and old.
We, at jenawohnen, have complete confidence in you as a tenant. Since we know that you will exercise due care in the occupation and maintenance of your property, we dispense with the need for a deposit.
It’s great that you are interested in one of our apartments! Please submit the relevant documents to us:
Click here: Checklist for potential tenants
We will check that all the details are up-to-date and complete. All your data is of course treated in the strictest of confidence.
Once the documents have been inspected, we can issue your rental confirmation and conclude the rental agreement.
The responsibilities of the security service at a glance:
S – Security
O – Orderliness
S – Scrupulous cleanliness
The security team
What else does the security guard do?
Security team emergency number:
(03641) 884-488 (daily between 6pm and 4.30am)
Tip: set the thermostatic valve on your radiator to a constant temperature. Then the thermostat will automatically regulate the room temperature. The desired room temperature will remain constant without the need for adjusting the thermostatic valve ever again.
Better still: do not heat your living areas ‘as required’. Because if you are constantly setting the thermostat valve to a higher or lower temperature, this has been proven to considerably increase your heating costs.
Note: if a cold room needs to be reheated, this uses more energy that if the room temperature had been kept at an approximately constant level in your rooms! You will not save any energy by constantly adjusting the thermostat control – quite the opposite.
Therefore: set the temperature on your radiator thermostat valves to the same level. Heat each room separately. Keep the doors to rooms that are not to be heated closed.
There is more of a requirement for heating in the wintertime than the summertime due to lower outside temperatures. As a result, heating costs in the winter season are higher than in the summer months each year.
If a rental agreement is in place for an entire billing period (January to December of any year), then the heating costs (monthly prepayments) normally even out over the course of the year:
for the months of January to March/April, the heating costs are comparatively high – higher than the monthly advance payment which is based on a yearly average (“degree day figures”).
In the following months, however, consumption is considerably lower due to rising outside temperatures. Your monthly advance payment will therefore be too high by comparison. In general, the level of monthly advance payment remains unchanged within a billing period. But as no heat is used in the summer months, but the same monthly advance payments are made as in the wintertime, the costs for providing heat eventually even out as an annual average.
If you only move into your property in October on a particular year, it is not possible to even the costs out in this way. According to the daily heat cost allocation table, the months of October, November and December are some of the most intensive months of the year for heating. Consequently, the costs for heat consumption during these months exceed the monthly advance payments which have already been calculated based on the consumption during the summertime. This then leads to a back payment.
Your waste management costs are comprised of a basic charge per resident and the quantity-based charge each time you empty your rubbish. The basic charge already includes the disposal costs for bio-waste, paper, lightweight packaging etc.
If we consistently separate our rubbish, then there will be a lower waste volume. This can result in the quantity-based charges for waste disposal being lowered by up to 50 per cent.
Help us to achieve this! Waste sorting conserves resources and sends recyclable waste back into the materials life cycle. You are also making an important contribution to the environment and saving on waste disposal costs at the same time.
The ‘rainwater’ utility item was first charged in 2004. The actual living space forms the basis for the surface water drainage charge.
The charges arise from the removal of surface water such as, for example, the drainage of rainwater into canals.
The amount of rainwater to be fed from the premises into the public sewerage system depends on
Sealed and connected surfaces are therefore distinguished from one another depending on whether they are ‘paved’ or attached using ‘ungrouted panels’ or ‘grass pavers’ (eco-paving). For connected roof surfaces, a distinction is also made between ‘normal rooftops covered in roof tiles’ and ‘green roofs’.
Please send us your account details in writing. Only in this way can errors be avoided in the transmission of your data.
It couldn’t be simpler: send us your account details:
| by email | post(at)jenawohnen.de |
| by fax | 0049 (0)3641 884-215 |
| by post | jenawohnen GmbH Löbdergraben 19 07743 Jena |
As a tenant, you will receive a utility bill from jenawohnen GmbH once a year with exact details of every cost associated with your rental property for the relevant year.
By law, we have up to 12 months from the end of the billing period in which to send this bill out to you. We will of course make every effort to deliver the allocated bills to our tenants as early as possible.
For logistical reasons, it is unfortunately not possible to generate utility bills for all 14,400 tenants at the same time which is why there are different billing schedules.
If you require your utility bill for your tax declaration, you can use your bill from the previous billing period for the time being. Just inform your tax authority that you are still awaiting your utility bill but that you will submit it to them at a later stage.
The item entitled ‘gardening’ is mostly comprised of staffing costs for gardening, cutting and fertilising the grass, the pruning of trees, shrubs and hedges, watering of plants and power and fuel costs for the lawnmower.
The advance payment for utilities is made up of two separate elements. The non-heating related running costs and the heating costs. It can happen that there is an overpayment in relation to one of those payments and an underpayment for the other. These will even out in the long run. However, for the next billing period, the part which received an underpayment in the previous year will be increased accordingly so that no need for a back payment arises.
jenawohnen GmbH will cover 30% of the total costs for the security guard and caretaker. This represents 30% of the administrative costs. As opposed to the allocable tasks provided by the security service and caretaker, such as for example, ensuring that house rules are observed or monitoring the technical equipment, there are also repair and administrative costs which are not passed on to tenants. Consequently, only 70% of the costs are allocated to tenants. Regardless of this, the caretaker will keep a daily record of his/her work activities. This also allows the proportion of administrative and maintenance costs to be verified.
Up until 2013, hot water consumption was calculated using a formula detailed under section 9 of the Heating Costs Ordinance. According to the Heating Costs Ordinance, every landlord was obligated to install a heat meter for generating hot water by 31.12.2013. The heat meter records the heat required for heating the water more precisely than the formula. This may mean that there are generally higher costs for water heating and hot water compared to previous utility bills.
The water is normally always supplied as cold water. Therefore, under the heading ‘Cold water consumption’, the total consumption for cold water and hot water is shown as an aggregate. The amount shown under hot water consumption only relates to energy used for heating the hot water.
Small pets such as e.g. ornamental fish, budgies and hamsters are welcome as ‘subtenants’. Other animals are not allowed to be kept in your property.
The keeping of dangerous animals (these are identified on a list created by the Thuringia Ministry of Interior under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act) is generally not permitted.
Nevertheless, if any tenant wishes to keep a pet, especially a cat or dog in their apartment, he/she must apply in writing to jenawohnen GmbH. Application approvals are subject to certain conditions being met and may be withdrawn by us at any time in the event of a breach.
Please understand that any decision on the part of jenawohnen GmbH to allow the keeping of pets will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Have you fallen behind with your rental payments? Please don’t waste any time! Come and speak to our staff at once in the relevant service centre.
We will find a solution together – for example, an instalment agreement.
Any structural amendment to your property must be agreed in advance by us. In addition, the work to be undertaken must be carried out by a specialist tradesman.
Tip: with our special wohnenplus service, we can offer you advice and support whenever you want to carry out any modifications or renovations.
Are you still looking for the right trade business? Would you like us to supervise the carrying out of your building work? Give wohnenplusa try now!
If a tenant changes properties in the course of an existing tenancy agreement, then this will require an amendment to the contract. There are three possibilities for this:
What can be done?
Important: we can only release you from your contract when your rental account has been settled because the remaining tenant is not only taking over any rights but also the liabilities.
Our recommendation: have a friendly word with your neighbour and request some consideration on their behalf. A face-to-face conversation with your neighbour can be more effective than you think.
Despite your friendly request, maybe your neighbour will not change their behaviour. Or there may be particular reasons why you do not wish to speak with them in person. Then we will look after your concerns.
Important: please keep records of the time, date and nature of any disturbances and submit these to us. Only in this way can we take effective action against the disturbance. It is possible that other residents are also being bothered by this and they can also sign their names as witnesses. All data and information is of course treated in the strictest of confidence.
Please note: telephone calls placed outside of our normal business hours should be made to the security guard on Tel.: 0049 (0)3641 884-488. He will be able to quickly resolve the matter on site.
In principle, you are not responsible for finding a follow-on tenant or for making any introductions in this regard as jenawohnen GmbH already has a number of prospective tenants on its books who are presently looking for a place to live. As soon as we receive a rental termination notice for a property, we will offer it to suitable prospects from our database.
In the event that you have already found a potential follow-on tenant, then we will also consider this interested person when reassigning the property.
Do you want to leave your furniture in your apartment? Are you wishing to shorten your notice period due to a successful subsequent rental? We will gladly consider your wishes in the event of a subletting of the property. However, additional decision criteria play a key role in choosing the follow-on tenant.
The following are important: jenawohnen GmbH will always make the decision on which prospective tenant is successful. There is no entitlement to rent the property out to your own appointed follow-on tenant.
Most of the houses and apartments belonging to jenawohnen GmbH are connected to the existing Tele Columbus GmbH and Kabel Deutschland broadband networks.
Therefore, the installation of satellite equipment is generally prohibited in properties belonging to jenawohnen GmbH.
As a tenant, if you want to receive a multitude of extra channels from the cable provider, you may purchase an add-on device for this (decoder for digital cable TV programmes). In addition, there is also the option of watching TV online.
If upon signature of the rental agreement, it emerges that a potential tenant has provided false information on their prospective questionnaire, the landlord is entitled to contest the rental agreement and to make a claim for damages. Furthermore, this constitutes a criminal offence. The landlord may bring criminal charges against the tenant.
