How Much Deposit Can a Landlord Withhold for Nebenkosten?

That a landlord is allowed to withhold part of the deposit for outstanding Nebenkosten is settled by the highest court. What's less clear to most tenants is the question that actually matters: how much, exactly?

There is no fixed percentage

Contrary to what many assume, neither the BGB nor case law sets a fixed percentage or multiplier that a landlord may automatically withhold for pending Nebenkosten. In its BGH ruling VIII ZR 52/20, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) speaks explicitly only of a "reasonable portion" of the deposit that may be withheld to secure Nebenkosten that haven't been billed yet. How large that portion is in any individual case is a question of the actual circumstances, not a fixed formula.

What the amount is based on

In practice, landlords usually look at the top-up payment or refund from previous billing years. If there was regularly a top-up of, say, 150 euros in the past, withholding roughly that amount is easier to justify than withholding several times that. A flat withholding of the entire deposit, justified only by pointing to a Nebenkosten statement that's still pending, isn't reasonable and generally isn't lawful.

What tenants can do if the amount looks too high

If you suspect significantly more has been withheld than could realistically be owed in Nebenkosten, ask the landlord to justify the amount and point to the statements from previous years. If the withheld amount can't be plausibly derived from the actual cost history, you can reclaim the excess.

For an overview of tenant rights on a disputed withholding, see our related guide.

How this interacts with the twelve-month deadline

The Nebenkosten withholding is time-limited regardless: once the twelve-month deadline under Section 556(3) BGB for the Nebenkosten statement has passed, the basis for withholding disappears entirely, no matter how much was originally withheld. For more on that deadline and what happens once it passes, see our deposit hold duration guide, and for the other grounds a landlord can withhold on, our deposit deduction rights guide.

How deposit refunds under Section 551 BGB work in general is covered in a separate article.

Conclusion

There's no fixed percentage a landlord may withhold from the deposit for outstanding Nebenkosten. What matters is a reasonable amount based on the actual cost history, which must be paid out at the latest once the twelve-month billing deadline expires.

For more, see our deposit hold duration guide and our landlord deposit rights overview.