Guides / Operating costs
Operating costs
The Nebenkostenabrechnung, which costs are billable, deadlines and heating.
The Nebenkostenabrechnung (operating-cost statement) is the most common dispute in a German tenancy – and the most clearly regulated one. § 556 BGB gives both sides a 12-month deadline: the landlord to issue the statement, the tenant to object. Which costs may be passed on at all is an exhaustive list in § 2 BetrKV; administration, maintenance and reserves are not on it.
Here you'll find guides to creating and to checking the statement, to heating costs (HeizkostenV), the CO₂ cost split and flatshare special cases – plus the free Nebenkosten-Checker for deadline and line items.
Guides for landlords
- Pass Grundsteuer on to Tenants: 2026 Guide
Passing Grundsteuer to tenants: apportionable under § 2 Nr. 1 BetrKV, but only with a clause in the Mietvertrag. What the 2025 reform changes.
- Heizkostenabrechnung: A Landlord's Guide for Germany (2026)
How to create a correct Heizkostenabrechnung: the 50–70% by-consumption split, the 15% Kürzungsrecht, deadlines and which costs are umlagefähig, for landlords.
- Nebenkostenabrechnung: A Landlord's Guide for Germany (2026)
How to create a correct Nebenkostenabrechnung: the 12-month deadline, which costs are umlagefähig, the Umlageschlüssel and common mistakes.
Guides for tenants
- CO₂ costs: does the landlord pay too? (CO2KostAufG 2026)
Since 2023 tenants and landlords share heating CO₂ costs under a 10-step model (CO2KostAufG). How to check your share, and cut it when it's wrong.
- Cable TV in your Nebenkosten: what tenants need to know in 2026
Since 1 July 2024 cable-TV fees can no longer be passed on via the Nebenkosten (end of the Nebenkostenprivileg). How to check your statement, and save money.
- How to Check Your Heizkostenabrechnung as a Tenant (2026)
Check your Heizkostenabrechnung: the 50–70% consumption rule (§ 7 HeizkostenV), the 15% Kürzungsrecht (§ 12), 12-month deadlines and Belegeinsicht.
- How to Check Your Nebenkostenabrechnung as a Tenant (2026)
Check your Nebenkostenabrechnung: the two 12-month deadlines (§ 556 BGB), which costs are umlagefähig, and how to object to errors.
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