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Garden maintenance costs — even if you cannot use the garden
Why nearly every flat pays for Gartenpflege in Germany, where upkeep ends and investment begins, and which questions actually help.
A well-kept courtyard costs money, and the bill lands on the service-charge statement. Tenants who have no access to the garden often ask why they should pay at all. Behind the line there is usually more than mowing: tree felling, replanting and playground inspections appear regularly. This guide sorts the costs and shows which questions are worth asking. It covers residential tenancies in Germany and is not individual legal advice.
The legal basis
Section 2 no. 10 BetrKV covers "the costs of garden maintenance": the care of landscaped areas including the renewal of plants and shrubs, the care of playgrounds including replacing the sand, and the care of squares, access ways and driveways that are not open to public traffic.
The express mention of renewing plants is unusual in German operating-costs law, which otherwise excludes replacement. It is limited to ongoing upkeep and does not extend to creating a new garden.
Why tenants without access still pay
Operating costs are allocated by a uniform key across the economic unit, not according to individual use. Green areas shape the living environment, provide light and air, and — like access ways and driveways — are used by everyone at least indirectly. Allocation to flats whose occupants never enter the garden is therefore usual.
It is different where an area is allocated to a particular flat for exclusive use, for example a ground-floor tenant's garden. Its upkeep is not a communal operating cost. An express clause in the lease can also exempt certain flats.
Upkeep or new creation?
The dividing line runs between preserving and creating. Mowing, hedge cutting, weeding, leaf clearance, watering and replacing a plant that has died are upkeep. Laying out a garden for the first time, redesigning the courtyard, building a new path and installing a playground are investments and not recoverable.
Trees are the difficult case. Regular pruning and the safety inspection are upkeep. Felling a diseased tree is treated by many courts as upkeep where it is a normal consequence of having trees, and so is replanting that restores the previous state. Clearing trees to create parking spaces is a building measure.
What is not recoverable
Building fences and walls, renewing paving, buying garden equipment for the caretaker, clearing up after a storm as a one-off event, and the management work involved in placing the order are all excluded by sections 1(2) nos. 1 and 2 BetrKV.
Watch for collective invoices from landscaping firms that show upkeep and redesign in one sum. Ask for a breakdown by service. Where a line is mixed, only the inadmissible part is removed.
The overlap with the caretaker
If the caretaker (Hauswart) does the gardening, that part of the pay belongs either in the garden line or in the caretaker line — not both. Section 2 no. 14 BetrKV expressly excludes double counting.
The DMB benchmark reflects this with two caretaker figures: a higher one where the caretaker does everything, and a lower one where cleaning, garden and winter service are billed separately. Comparing your statement with the right one of the two is a good first test.
The allocation key
Without a different agreement, section 556a(1) BGB requires allocation by living area, and the actual area is decisive (BGH, judgment of 30 May 2018 – VIII ZR 220/17). Redo the calculation: total costs ÷ total area × your area. A deviation points to a prior deduction or a different economic unit.
When the area is not really yours
In larger estates a contractor often maintains several buildings together and bills the total across the combined living area. That is permissible where such an economic unit is agreed. It becomes a problem when areas are included that belong to another property or to a site you cannot access.
A simple test: compare the total living area stated with the size of your building. If it deviates considerably, ask about the boundaries of the economic unit, which properties are included, and since when it has been billed that way.
Economy of management
Garden costs depend heavily on scope: fortnightly mowing costs more than monthly, and changing the planting twice a year costs more than permanent planting. To argue that management is uneconomic you must plead and prove it; the landlord regularly bears no secondary burden of explanation for the basis of the cost item (BGH, judgment of 6 July 2011 – VIII ZR 340/10). So obtain the maintenance contract and the invoices before making the allegation.
Ask for the maintenance contract with the schedule of services and the frequency. Only then is a comparative quote meaningful.
Vacancy and commercial units
The share attributable to vacant flats is borne by the landlord (BGH, judgment of 31 May 2006 – VIII ZR 159/05). If a restaurant uses the courtyard for outdoor seating, a prior deduction for commercial use should be considered, because the upkeep effort there can be considerably higher.
Putting the amount in context
The DMB national benchmark for the 2024 billing year gives garden maintenance at €0.15 per square metre per month — about €126 a year for a 70 m² flat. Large parks, mature trees and elaborate planting cost more. The figure is an average, not an upper limit.
Read on and check your own bill
For the boundary with the caretaker, see caretaker costs. For one-off measures, see repairs and maintenance, and for the documents behind the figures, inspecting the invoices.
For your own statement, the free check reads out the garden line and compares it with the national reference value.