Nebenkosten: Which Costs Landlords Cannot Pass On to Tenants

Not every line item that shows up on a Nebenkostenabrechnung (additional-costs statement) is actually allowed to be there. Germany's Operating Costs Ordinance (Betriebskostenverordnung, BetrKV) sets out, exhaustively, which costs a landlord may pass on to tenants, and explicitly excludes certain categories.

The legal basis: Section 1(2) BetrKV

Under Section 1(2) of the Betriebskostenverordnung, two categories are explicitly excluded from chargeable operating costs:

Administrative costs: the cost of staff and facilities needed to manage the building, including supervision, bookkeeping, and account management
Maintenance and repair costs: costs incurred during the useful life of the building to fix defects from wear, ageing, or weather

What this means in practice

Not chargeable to tenants includes, among other things:

Administrative costs such as property-management fees, postage, and bank charges
Repairs (for example, a broken lift motor or a leaking roof), as opposed to routine maintenance, which is chargeable
Reserves set aside for future renovations
Loan interest and principal repayment on the building
Loss of rent from vacant flats in the same building
The landlord's legal and lawyer's fees

A clause in the rental contract that says otherwise doesn't change this: non-chargeable costs cannot be validly passed on to a tenant under German residential tenancy law, even if the contract states the opposite.

Maintenance yes, repair no

A common point of dispute is the line between maintenance and repair. Routine maintenance of a heating system, a lift, or a smoke-detector system is chargeable, because it serves preventive inspection. Actually fixing a defect, such as replacing a broken heating component, counts as a repair instead, and may not appear on the Nebenkostenabrechnung.

What to do if your statement has one of these items

Check every line item on your Nebenkostenabrechnung against the categories of administration, repair, and reserves. If you find one, you can object in writing within 12 months of receiving the statement (Section 556(3) of the German Civil Code, BGB) and request to see the supporting documents.

For a walk-through of how to check your entire statement systematically, see our step-by-step Nebenkostenabrechnung review guide, and for the difference between cold rent, additional costs, and total rent, our Kaltmiete vs Warmmiete explainer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Nebenkosten can a landlord not pass on to me?

Administrative costs and maintenance/repair costs are explicitly excluded under Section 1(2) BetrKV, along with loan interest, reserves, and the landlord's legal costs.

Can a landlord list repair costs on the Nebenkostenabrechnung?

No. Repairs count as maintenance work in the legal sense and are not chargeable under Section 1(2) No. 2 BetrKV, unlike routine maintenance of the same system.