Nebenkostenabrechnung for landlords: turn the building statement into a tenant statement

If you let an apartment in an owners' association, your tenant's annual operating-cost statement is built from the association's annual accounts, but it is not a copy of them. Keep only costs the law and your lease let you pass on, divide them by the lease's keys, add recoverable costs the association does not handle, such as property tax, apply the heating rules and deduct the tenant's advances. It must reach the tenant within 12 months of the period's end, or a back-payment is generally lost (§ 556(3) BGB).

The Nebenkostenabrechnung (NBA, also NKA) is the annual service charge statement a German landlord sends a tenant; its legal name is Betriebskostenabrechnung, operating-cost statement. It reconciles the tenant's monthly advance (Nebenkostenvorauszahlung) with the actual costs. For the wider list of landlord duties, see landlord responsibilities in Germany.

The owners' association (Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft, or WEG) produces annual accounts (Jahresabrechnung, often called Hausgeldabrechnung). They cover everything it spent, including administration, repairs and contributions to the maintenance reserve (Erhaltungsrücklage), divided by the association's keys, and the owners resolve on the resulting payments (§ 28 WEG). That settles your account with the association.

The tenant's statement settles your relationship with the tenant. Only operating costs (Betriebskosten) count, and only if the lease says the tenant bears them (§ 556(1) BGB). Never forward the WEG accounts as the tenant's statement or pass on the whole service charge (Hausgeld); our cash-flow guide shows the monthly split.

Operating costs arise regularly from owning the property or from using the building as intended. The Operating Costs Ordinance (Betriebskostenverordnung, BetrKV) lists 17 types, including property tax, water and sewage, heating, waste collection, cleaning, garden care, common-area lighting, building insurance and the caretaker (§ 2 BetrKV). Two groups are excluded (§ 1(2) BetrKV):

• Administration costs (Verwaltungskosten), such as the WEG administrator's fee and the value of the landlord's own management work.
• Maintenance and repair costs (Instandhaltungs- und Instandsetzungskosten). Reserve contributions, which fund future repairs, are not operating costs either.

Three lines often slip through:

• Caretaker invoices. Repair, renewal and administration work is excluded (§ 2 no. 14 BetrKV).
• Cable television. Since 1 July 2024, cable and broadband connection fees can no longer be recharged; little more than the distribution system's operating electricity remains (§ 2 no. 15 BetrKV). A WEG bulk contract now stays with you.
• Uneconomic costs. The principle of economic efficiency (Grundsatz der Wirtschaftlichkeit) applies (§ 556(3) BGB), so an unusually expensive contract can be challenged.

By default, operating costs are divided by living area, and metered costs by consumption (§ 556a(1) BGB). For a let condominium, unless the lease says otherwise, the WEG's own key applies, or living area if that key is inequitable (§ 556a(3) BGB).

Read the lease first. If it allocates by living area, do not copy the association's co-ownership shares (Miteigentumsanteile): apply your flat's share of the total living area to each recoverable line's building total. The Federal Court of Justice requires, at minimum, a compilation of the total costs, the keys used (explained where necessary), the calculation of the tenant's share and the deduction of advances (BGH, VIII ZR 93/15, 20 January 2016).

Central heating and hot water follow the Heating Costs Ordinance (Heizkostenverordnung, HeizkostenV), which overrides the lease outside two-flat houses where the landlord lives (§ 2 HeizkostenV) and applies between a condominium owner and their tenant (§ 1(2) no. 3 HeizkostenV). Between 50 and 70 per cent of heating and hot-water costs must be allocated by measured consumption, the rest by area (§ 7(1) and § 8(1) HeizkostenV). A change of tenant requires an intermediate reading (§ 9b HeizkostenV).

The tenant may reduce their share:

• 15 per cent of their share where costs are not billed by consumption as the ordinance requires (§ 12(1) HeizkostenV).
• 3 per cent where meters are not remotely readable as required, or required consumption information is missing (same provision). Existing meters must be remotely readable by 31 December 2026, with exceptions (§ 5(3) HeizkostenV). These reductions do not apply between you and your WEG, so you may bear them yourself.
• 3 per cent of the heating costs where the statement omits the carbon-cost split (§ 7(4) CO2KostAufG).

That split of the carbon price on gas or oil follows the building's annual emissions per square metre of living area: the landlord bears nothing below 12 kg of CO2, rising to 95 per cent at 52 kg or more (§ 5 CO2KostAufG and annex). The statement must show the tenant's share, the building's classification and the calculation basis (§ 7(3) CO2KostAufG).

Illustrative example. Fictional figures. Apartment A from our cash-flow guide: Leipzig, 65 m², €900 cold rent plus a €210 monthly advance, set at the recoverable part of the planned Hausgeld and excluding property tax. Building: 12 flats, 800 m² of living area; A's co-ownership share 85/1,000. Period: calendar year 2027, the first full year after the April 2026 handover; one tenant all year. Lease: BetrKV operating costs, including property tax, allocated by living area, except cold water (flat meter) and heating (HeizkostenV). Central gas heating with remotely readable allocators; hot water from electric heaters the tenant pays for directly. Heating split 70 per cent consumption, 30 per cent area; A's consumption share 7.5 per cent. Gas invoices: 24.0 tonnes of CO2, €1,440 of carbon costs. A's property tax: €240. The owners approve the accounts in June 2028; the statement is due by 31 December 2028.

Step 1: sort A's lines in the WEG accounts.

Of A's €4,216 in the WEG accounts, €1,544 stays with the owner. Comparing €4,216 with the Hausgeld paid is the owner's own settlement, not the tenant's.

Step 2: build the tenant statement by the lease's keys.

Heating: 30% × €14,400 × 65/800 = €351.00, plus 70% × €14,400 × 7.5% = €756.00. Carbon: 24,000 kg ÷ 800 m² = 30.0 kg per m², in the 27 to under 32 kg band, so the landlord bears 40 per cent. A's carbon cost is €1,440 × €1,107 ÷ €14,400 = €110.70.

The tenant owes €295.97, mainly because the advance excluded property tax and costs exceeded the plan. Copying the WEG's 85/1,000 shares would have overcharged the tenant by €51.75. After the statement, either party may adjust the advance to an appropriate level in text form (§ 560(4) BGB); €2,815.97 ÷ 12 points to about €235 a month.

• Deadline. The statement must reach the tenant by the end of the twelfth month after the period; later, a back-payment is excluded unless the delay was not your fault (§ 556(3) BGB). A refund due to the tenant is still owed, and a correction sent after the deadline cannot raise what the tenant owes.
• Late WEG accounts. The owners' resolution is not a precondition, and if you blame a delay on others you must show concrete efforts to account on time (BGH, VIII ZR 249/15, 25 January 2017).
• Objections. The tenant has 12 months from receipt to object (§ 556(3) BGB) and may inspect the receipts, which you may provide electronically (§ 556(4) BGB).
• Tax. A back-payment or refund counts in the year the money moves (our Anlage V checklist).

Nebenkostenabrechnung software can total invoices, apply stored keys, split periods by day, deduct advances and produce a PDF. It cannot read your lease or decide what is recoverable. Verify:

• Lease provisions: the cost types and keys you actually agreed.
• Bill completeness: every invoice and notice, including those outside the WEG accounts.
• Recovery eligibility: administration, repairs, reserves and cable fees removed.
• Period: it matches the lease, and the invoices cover it.
• Tenant changes: move dates and intermediate readings.
• Heating data: the metering company's figures, split and carbon classification.
• Final delivery: who sends it, when, and how receipt is proved.

Three examples, as their providers describe them; we have not tested them, and the links are editorial references, not endorsements. objego's Nebenkostenabrechnung function (German-language page) targets private landlords: four guided steps, automatic reading of uploaded invoices, a plausibility check and a PDF ready to send; its heating module for self-reading landlords currently supports gas central heating only. Walter's Nebenkostenabrechnung feature (German-language page) targets management teams: it advertises collecting data from utilities and metering firms, applying keys, offsetting advances and preparing drafts sent after your approval. If you also keep a small WEG's books, WISO Hausverwalter 365 (German-language page; Windows software) lists tenant statements alongside Hausgeld accounts, reserves and the asset report. Check the edition and workflow first.

The duty to account is yours. The WEG administrator supplies the accounts but does not prepare your tenant's statement unless separately contracted; a manager for your unit and tenancy (Sondereigentumsverwalter) can (who manages what).

Alpha Minoris's Vermieter-Autopilot service manages let apartments in Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig for owners who need not live there: finding tenants, rental contracting, coordinating repairs and handling ongoing landlord tasks on the owner's behalf. Whether preparing this annual statement is included depends on the written mandate, so confirm it before relying on it. Either way, the deadline and the result remain the owner's; a disputed statement belongs with a tenancy lawyer, its tax treatment with your tax adviser (Steuerberater).

If you are buying a let apartment, ask for the last tenant statement and the WEG accounts it was built from, and check that the two reconcile. Discuss your first rental property with Alpha Minoris.