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Moving out mid-year: your final German service-charge statement
Why the bill arrives a year later, how time-based shares work, and which readings to record on handover day.
If you move out in May you expect the statement in June. In reality it often arrives eighteen months later. That is annoying but in many cases lawful. This guide explains why, how your share is calculated for a partial year, and what to record at the handover. It covers residential tenancies in Germany and is not individual legal advice.
Why the wait is so long
What is billed is the building's billing period, not your personal period of residence. If the period runs from 1 January to 31 December and you move out in May, the statement can only be produced after the end of that year — the suppliers' invoices are not available before then.
Under section 556(3) BGB the statement must reach you by the end of the twelfth month after the end of the billing period. For a move-out in May 2025 that means 31 December 2026. There is generally no obligation to produce an immediate interim statement because you moved.
Time-based apportionment
Consumption-independent costs — property tax, insurance, caretaker, cleaning, garden maintenance — are apportioned by time. If you move out on 31 May you carry five twelfths of the annual amount attributable to your flat.
So check two figures in the statement: your period of use and the time share. An end date that is one month out costs you one twelfth of every area-based item — with annual costs of €2,400 that is €200.
Heating and hot water
For heating and hot water the Heating Costs Ordinance applies. On a change of user, section 9b HeizkostenV provides for an interim reading. Where that is not possible, consumption costs are apportioned using the degree-day method or another recognised procedure, while base costs are apportioned by time.
Insist on an interim reading when you move out and ask for the record. Without those values, only an estimate remains — and estimates rarely favour the tenant.
The handover appointment
Record on the day: the date, all meter readings (cold water, hot water, heat, and electricity if relevant), the number of keys handed over and the name of the person present. Photograph the meters so that the serial number and the reading are legible. Have the handover record signed by both sides and take a copy.
Those fifteen minutes are the best possible preparation for a statement you will not see for another year and a half.
Address and bank details
The most common cause of problems after a move is simply being unreachable. Give your new address in writing and set up a forwarding order. Also give your bank details for a possible refund.
If the statement goes to your old address and you never receive it, your objection period may nevertheless start running — and you find out only when a reminder arrives.
Deposit and statement
The deposit (Kaution) is a separate claim and not the same as the service-charge statement. Case law allows, in certain circumstances, an appropriate part of the deposit to be retained until the next statement. The retention must be based on the back payment realistically to be expected and must not cover the entire deposit.
Ask for the specific amount and the reason, and ask for the rest of the deposit to be settled.
The deadline applies to you too
After the statement reaches you, you have twelve months to raise objections under section 556(3) BGB. That period runs regardless of the tenancy having ended. Keep the lease, the handover record and your bank statements covering the prepayments at least until the final statement.
The next tenant and your costs
If someone moves in straight after you, the two households share the year. Your share ends with the end of the tenancy, not with the day you carried out the furniture. What counts is the contractual end date, even if you left earlier — you owe the costs for the full contractual term.
Conversely, no costs may be attributed to you for periods after the contract ended. If the flat is renovated after you leave and stands empty for a few weeks, that is vacancy, and vacancy is the landlord's cost (BGH, judgment of 31 May 2006 – VIII ZR 159/05).
Check the prepayments
The statement shows the total of the prepayments you made. After a mid-year move that figure is frequently wrong: twelve monthly instalments are applied although you paid five, or the last instalment is missing because it was booked in the following month.
Take out your bank statements and count the amounts actually debited. This check takes a few minutes and finds one of the most common errors in statements after a move. It feeds straight into the result, because prepayments are deducted one for one from your share of the costs.
If you moved in mid-year
The same applies in mirror image. Check that your period of use starts correctly and that only the proportionate base costs were applied. Also check that your prepayments for the partial period are recorded correctly — with a move-in mid-month, too many or too few monthly instalments are often applied.
The opening meter readings from the handover record are the decisive control here.
If no statement arrives at all
If nothing comes after the deadline, demand the statement in writing with a deadline. You have a claim to be given an account of the prepayments you made. After the deadline a back claim is generally excluded, while a credit in your favour survives.
Estimate roughly whether a credit is likely: the total of your prepayments minus your estimated share of the costs. If a credit is probable, the enquiry is particularly worthwhile.
Read on and check your own bill
For the timing rules, see the service-charge deadline. For enforcing a credit, see getting a credit paid out, and for the payment question, refusing to pay a back payment.
When the statement finally arrives, the details are long forgotten: upload it to the free check and have the time shares, prepayments and deadlines recalculated.