Service charges in Germany: what you can be asked to pay
Your landlord may only pass on costs that the Service Charges Ordinance lists and that your lease expressly puts on you.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Your cold service charges per m²
Per m² and month
€1.88/m²
| Berlin average 2024 | €1.93/m² |
| Difference | -2.5 % |
In German tenancy law, the extra costs on top of rent (Nebenkosten) are legally called operating or service charges (Betriebskosten): the recurring costs an owner has from the land and from normal use of the building. You only pay them if your lease says so (Section 556(1) of the Civil Code, BGB), and only within the limits of the Service Charges Ordinance (Betriebskostenverordnung, BetrKV). Its Section 2 lists 17 items, from property tax through water, heating, lifts, waste, cleaning, gardening and insurance to other service charges. Section 1(2) excludes management and repair costs. Since 1 July 2024, cable TV usage fees are no longer chargeable either. As a benchmark, the Berlin service-charge overview gives average figures for 2024 of €1.93 per square metre and month for non-heating items and €1.50 for heating and hot water. For a 62 m² flat that is €119.66 and €93.00 a month. If you pay €1,650 a year for the non-heating items, your €2.22 per square metre is about 15 per cent above the Berlin average.
What counts as a service charge
The definition sits in Section 556(1) BGB and, word for word, in Section 1 of the ordinance: costs that arise for the owner, on a recurring basis, from owning the land or from the intended use of the building, outbuildings, installations and facilities. Two words carry the weight. Recurring means regular, though not necessarily every year: an inspection due every few years can qualify, a one-off purchase cannot. And it is about use, not upkeep: anything spent on fixing wear, ageing or weather damage is maintenance and stays with the owner.
If the landlord does a job himself, say the gardening, he may charge what an equivalent firm would charge, but without that firm’s VAT (Section 1(1), second sentence, BetrKV). He needs to make the figure traceable in the statement, for example with a comparable quote.
The 17 items on the official list
The full list is in Section 2 BetrKV. It is closed: a recurring cost that fits none of the items is not a service charge. The table sums up each item with examples taken from the wording of the ordinance.
| No. | Item | What it includes (examples from the text) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | recurring public charges | above all property tax (Grundsteuer) |
| 2 | water supply | consumption, standing charges, meter rental and calibration |
| 3 | drainage | sewage fees, drainage pump |
| 4 | heating | fuel, operating power, servicing, emission checks, meter reading |
| 5 | hot water | central system, supplied hot water, servicing of water heaters |
| 6 | combined heating and hot-water systems | costs under items 4 and 2 for combined systems |
| 7 | passenger or goods lift | power, operation, inspection, cleaning |
| 8 | street cleaning and waste disposal | fees, waste chutes, waste metering |
| 9 | building cleaning and pest control | hallways, stairs, cellar, laundry room, lift car |
| 10 | gardening | plants, playground including sand, private paths |
| 11 | lighting | power for outdoor and common-area lights |
| 12 | chimney sweeping | sweeping fees not already under item 4 |
| 13 | property and liability insurance | fire, storm, water, natural hazards, glass, liability |
| 14 | caretaker | pay and social charges, excluding repairs and management |
| 15 | aerial, cable network, fibre | power and inspection; fibre with a provision fee |
| 16 | laundry facilities | power, upkeep and checks of shared machines |
| 17 | other service charges | recurring costs under Section 1 not covered by items 1 to 16 |
For items 4 to 6 the Heating Costs Ordinance (Heizkostenverordnung) takes precedence: it requires part of the cost to follow metered consumption and gives you deduction rights if that does not happen. See the heating-cost statement page. For the caretaker in item 14, work he does himself must not appear again under items 2 to 10 or 16, otherwise you pay twice for the same job.
What is expressly excluded
Section 1(2) BetrKV names two groups that can never be passed on:
- Management costs (Verwaltungskosten): staff and equipment for running the building, supervision, the landlord’s own admin, audits and general management.
- Maintenance and repair (Instandhaltung, Instandsetzung): whatever is needed to fix defects caused by wear, ageing and weather.
That gives you one question to ask of every invoice: was something run, cleaned, checked or insured, or was something repaired or replaced? A new heating pump, a replaced door lock or a lift repair are repairs even when they appear on the same invoice as routine servicing, and that share must be taken out.
Cable TV, broadband and fibre since 2024
Item 15 has been rewritten several times and is where older leases most often no longer match the law. Until 30 June 2024, landlords could pass on the usage fee for a cable connection, fees for cable retransmission and monthly broadband standing charges. Since 1 July 2024 only the operating power and regular checks of a shared aerial remain, and only the power for an in-house cable network. For installations built from 1 December 2021, points a and b no longer apply at all.
Point c is new: running an in-house network connected entirely by fibre to a very high capacity network, provided you can freely choose your provider. Chargeable are the power and a provision fee under the Telecommunications Act. You only bear that fee if the work was carried out economically; for a complex installation the landlord must, where possible, have obtained three quotes and chosen the most economical (Section 556(3a) BGB).
Flat rate or advance payments
Your lease can deal with service charges in two ways (Section 556(2) BGB). With advance payments you pay a monthly amount, which must be set at a reasonable level, and receive an annual statement as described on the service-charge statement page. With a flat rate there is no statement. If costs rise, the landlord can only increase the flat rate if the lease provides for it, by a notice in text form that states and explains the reason; it takes effect from the month after next (Section 560(1) and (2) BGB). If costs fall, he must cut the flat rate from that point and tell you without delay.
What service charges usually cost
There are no official national averages. The Berlin service-charge overview from the Senate gives mean values for 2024 of €1.93 per square metre and month for the non-heating items and €1.50 for heating and hot water. Scaled to common flat sizes:
| Floor area | Non-heating per month | Heating per month | Total per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 m² | €77.20 | €60.00 | €1,646 |
| 62 m² | €119.66 | €93.00 | €2,552 |
| 85 m² | €164.05 | €127.50 | €3,499 |
A figure above the average is not an error in itself: a building with a lift, a caretaker and large grounds costs more than one without. But if a single item is far above, look at the receipts. The small calculator above converts your non-heating costs to the per-square-metre unit; the service-charge check does the same for heating and checks the deadlines too. If the statement ends in a balance to pay, see the page on the service-charge top-up.