Heat cost allocators in a rented flat: who installs them and who pays

What applies now, and what from 1 September 2028

There are two dates and they often get mixed up: the legal deadline for installing allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary, and the start of the new rules on how heating costs are split between flats.

• By 1 January 2027 flat owners must install thermostatic valves and allocators or separate heat meters (NN 67/2025, Art. 31(8); Heat Energy Market Act, Art. 33(1)). That deadline hasn't changed.
• Until 31 August 2028 costs are split under the current rulebook (NN 99/2014, 27/2015 and 124/2015). In a building with allocators, a flat without them pays its use multiplied by a correction factor of 2, unless the co-owners (or, in some cases, the heat buyer) decide otherwise. There's no extra charge.
• From 1 September 2028 the new cost-splitting rulebook applies (NN 140/2025). NN 84/2026 moved its start from 1 September 2026. Only then do the correction factor of 3 and the €0.50 per m² monthly charge for a flat without allocators begin.

News reports still mention September 2026 or September 2027. September 2027 was the Ministry's draft; the adopted text says 1 September 2028, and so does HEP Toplinarstvo's regulations page.

Who decides on installation and who pays

The duty is the owner's, but the building's co-owners decide on installation together: allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary need a majority by ownership shares, heat meters a qualified majority (Heat Energy Market Act, Art. 33(6)). The technical rulebook requires allocators from one manufacturer on every radiator in every flat, and says at least 75% of flats should have them for the system to work (NN 140/2025, Arts. 17(2), 17(7) and 18(6)).

The flat owner, as the end customer for heat, pays for buying, installing, maintaining and reading the allocators (NN 140/2025 technical rulebook, Arts. 17(6) and 18(4)). Before installation the building may first have to replace a direct substation with an indirect one and fit thermostatic sets on all radiators and new pumps (Arts. 3–6).

• The law sets no fine for not installing allocators.
• There's no exemption for allocators on the grounds that installation isn't technically or economically feasible.
• Tenants don't install them: the co-owners decide, and a tenant may not make alterations to the flat without the landlord's written consent (Housing Lease Act, Art. 14(2)).

The €0.50 per m² charge from 1 September 2028

The rulebook calls it a charge for encouraging heating efficiency. It's €0.50 per m² of the flat's heated area a month, paid all year (NN 140/2025, Art. 2(2) point 8 and Art. 19(1)). The rulebook also sets a yearly inflation (HICP) adjustment, first on 1 February 2027 (Art. 19(2)), but that article only applies from 1 September 2028, so it's unclear whether the amount will already be adjusted by then. The rulebook doesn't say whether it includes VAT.

• For a flat with 60 m² of heated area the base amount is €30 a month, or €360 a year, without any inflation adjustment and with no VAT stated (our calculation). The heated area comes from the heating project and can differ from the size in a listing.
• It's charged to the owner of a flat without allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary or heat meters, and also of one whose devices aren't used for the split, for example when a building with allocators still splits by area (Arts. 15 and 18).
• Flats lawfully separated but still connected, or lawfully disconnected from the heating system, don't pay it (Art. 18(11)).
• The building's heat buyer, in Zagreb normally HEP Toplinarstvo, bills it directly to the flat owner with the heat costs (Art. 17(1)).
• The money doesn't go into the reserve fundReserve fund (pričuva)simplifiedMoney the co-owners pay each month to maintain the building's common parts and run it. The flat's owner owes it to the building, not the tenant.Source: Zakon o upravljanju i održavanju zgrada (NN 152/24, 47/26), čl. 28. i 29., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary: it's kept on a separate account for the co-owners and can only be spent on allocators, heat meters or energy efficiency in that building, as a majority of co-owners decides (Art. 18).

The correction factor: 2 now, normally 3 from 2028

When a building splits costs by allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary, a flat without them has no reading, so the rulebook works out its use from its share and multiplies it by a correction factor.

• Until 31 August 2028 the factor is 2, unless the co-owners (or, in some cases, the heat buyer) set another (NN 99/2014, Art. 11, as amended by NN 27/2015 and 124/2015).
• From 1 September 2028 the factor is normally 3, and the co-owners can set it between 2.5 and 3.5 (NN 140/2025, Art. 8(4)–(5)). The flat also pays the €0.50 per m² charge.
• In a building where no flat has allocators, everyone pays by area, so there's no factor, but from 1 September 2028 everyone pays the charge (Art. 15(2)).

HEP Toplinarstvo says allocators in most buildings cut total use by 15–30%, but also that some flats pay more after installation. How rental flats are heated, by district, is in the heating story.

What it means for tenants and landlords

The Housing Lease Act and the Civil Obligations Act say nothing about allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary. Heat regulations put installation and the future charge on the flat owner as the end customer. Who finally bears the heating costs and the charge in a lease is up to the contract, which must state which housing costs the tenant pays and how (Housing Lease Act, Art. 5(4)).

• In Zagreb the heat bill is normally in the owner's name. Whether it can be in the tenant's is covered in the guide to changing the utility user.
• The Heat Energy Market Act fines an end customer who doesn't give access to metering devices for reading or maintenance (Art. 50(7)), so the tenant needs to know when readers come.
• No source settles whether the charge from 2028 is a public charge that the landlord bears under the Civil Obligations Act (Art. 554(5)). It's best to say so explicitly in the lease.

What to agree in the lease

This is a list of questions, not a ready-made clause:

• Who pays the heating bill and whose name it's in.
• Whether the tenant also pays the charge for a flat without allocatorsHeat cost allocator (razdjelnik)A device on a radiator that records how much heat a flat uses, so the building's district-heating bill can be split among the flats. It isn't a billing meter.Source: Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o tržištu toplinske energije (NN 67/2025), čl. 2. i 31., checked 21 Oct 2026More in the glossary from 1 September 2028, if the flat has none by then.
• How access to the flat is arranged for installing, reading and maintaining allocators.
• Who is responsible for a damaged allocator and who pays for repairs outside the warranty.
• That the tenant gets a copy of the flat's yearly cost split.
• Allocator readings written into the handover report at move-in and move-out.

How utility costsUtilities (režije)Housing costs on top of rent: electricity, gas or heating, water, waste, the reserve fund, the HRT licence fee and internet. The lease decides which the tenant pays.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 5., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary are split in general is in the utilities guide.

The Constitutional Court: status on 21 October 2026

In June 2026 news reports said petitions had been filed for a review of the Heat Energy Market Act and both NN 140/2025 rulebooks. On the Constitutional Court's website we found, by 21 October 2026, no decision on them and no suspension of the rules. The new rules' start was moved by the Ministry, in NN 84/2026, not by the Court.

Frequently asked questions