Germany: check your utility costs statement, checklist

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Time: one to two hours, plus the deadlines

Receipt and deadline

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Note when the statement reached you, and keep the proof.
Your deadline for objections starts with receipt of the statement (BGB § 556 para. 3).
Check whether the statement came in time: by the end of the twelfth month after the end of the statement period.
After that a back-payment claim is excluded, unless the landlord is not responsible for the delay (BGB § 556 para. 3).
Check the statement period: it must be settled every year.
The advance payments must be settled yearly (BGB § 556 para. 3 sentence 1).

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Check in the lease which operating costs you bear and how they are allocated.
A tenant bears operating costs only if agreed; otherwise they are allocated by living area (BGB §§ 556 para. 1 and 556a para. 1).
Compare every cost type with the list in the Operating Costs Ordinance.
The list has 17 numbers, from land tax to other operating costs (BetrKV § 2).
Strike what cannot be charged: administration, maintenance and repairs.
Administration, maintenance and repair costs are not operating costs (BetrKV § 1 para. 2).
Check your living area and the total area it is divided by.
Check that all your advance payments were deducted.
Check the heating costs: at least 50 and at most 70 percent must be allocated by consumption.
The rest is allocated by living or usable area (HeizkostenV § 7 para. 1).
If it was not settled by consumption, check the 15 percent reduction.
You may reduce your share of the heating and hot water costs (HeizkostenV § 12 para. 1).
Work it out: share by area, share of heating, consumption costs, advance payments.
The utility costs statement calculator shows the calculation step by step.
Watch for striking items compared with the previous year.
The landlord must observe the principle of economic efficiency (BGB § 556 para. 3 sentence 1).

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Ask to inspect the receipts if something is unclear.
On request the landlord must allow inspection; he may provide the receipts electronically (BGB § 556 para. 4).
Tell the landlord your objections by the end of the twelfth month after receipt, preferably in writing.
After that you can no longer raise objections, unless you are not responsible for the delay (BGB § 556 para. 3).
Record which items you dispute and what amount you consider justified.
Adjust the advance payment if it was too high or too low.
After a statement either side may demand in text form a reasonable amount (BGB § 560 para. 4).
Get advice from a tenants’ association or a tenancy lawyer if the statement is wrong.

Statement checked

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