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Waste collection charges on a German tenant's bill
Bin rental, collection fees and bulky waste: what belongs in the Müll line of your Nebenkostenabrechnung and what does not.
Waste is one of the few items where a whole building can genuinely reduce its bill: better separation means smaller residual-waste bins and a lower municipal fee. It is also a line where extra costs regularly appear that do not belong there, from a one-off skip after someone dumped furniture in the courtyard to repairs to the bin shed. This guide explains what is recoverable and how to check your share. It covers residential tenancies in Germany and is not individual legal advice.
The legal basis
Section 2 no. 8 BetrKV covers, alongside street cleaning, "the costs of waste disposal". These include the municipal collection fees, the costs of equivalent non-public arrangements, and the costs of operating waste compactors, refuse chutes, vacuum systems and waste-volume metering systems including calculation and allocation.
As always, allocation requires a clause in your lease under section 556(1) BGB. Without it, these costs are covered by the rent.
What belongs in the line
Recoverable items are the municipal fee for residual waste, organic waste and paper where the municipality charges for them; the rental of the bins; the operation of technical equipment such as a refuse chute; and the costs of recording and allocating volume or weight where a per-household system is used. Regular cleaning of the bins can also be ongoing operation if it happens at fixed intervals.
If a private company is engaged, for example for recyclables, those costs are recoverable too. What matters is not who issues the invoice but that the service is recurring and serves the ordinary use of the property.
Bulky waste: the classic dispute
Two situations must be distinguished. First, the municipality runs a regular bulky-waste collection and charges a recurring fee; that fee can qualify as an ongoing operating cost. Second, a single skip is ordered because someone left a sofa in the yard. That is a one-off measure.
The second case is nevertheless often allocated, on the argument that the person responsible cannot be identified. Whether that is permissible depends on the circumstances. In any event, ask for the invoice, the date and a description of what happened. If such a clearance occurs once in several years, the recurrence that operating costs require is missing.
What is not recoverable
Buying new bins, building or renovating a bin shed, repairing a refuse chute and disposing of construction waste from a modernisation are all excluded by section 1(2) no. 2 BetrKV. Clearing a flat after a tenancy ends is also excluded: it concerns the relationship with that particular tenant.
The allocation key
Without a different agreement, section 556a(1) BGB requires allocation by living area. For waste an allocation by number of occupants is closer to the cause, because the volume depends on how many people live in the flat rather than on its size. Such a key must be agreed, or validly introduced under section 556a(2) BGB.
Where occupancy is used, check the number attributed to you and how mid-year changes were treated. A child born in July does not count for the whole year. A comprehensible statement shows both the building total and your figure.
Per-household systems
Some buildings have identification systems that record each emptying, or locks on the bins. The cost of that recording is expressly recoverable. If your building has one, check that your recorded volume is plausible and how the unattributable remainder was allocated.
Such systems usually reduce total costs but move conflicts into the building community. For checking your statement, what matters is that the total costs, your share and the calculation are visible.
When the fee rises sharply
Rising waste costs usually have one of three causes: the municipality changed its fee schedule, the building received larger or additional bins, or collection became more frequent. All three can be evidenced with the fee notice and the collection calendar.
If the bins were enlarged because waste regularly piles up beside them, a question to the manager is reasonable: was it considered whether better separation could reduce the residual volume? The economy principle requires sensible management, but a breach of it must be pleaded and proved by the tenant; the landlord regularly bears no secondary burden of explanation (BGH, judgment of 6 July 2011 – VIII ZR 340/10). For waste that is manageable, because the municipal fee schedule is public.
Commercial units in the building
A restaurant or food shop produces far more waste than a flat. If the costs are nevertheless allocated by living area across the whole building, households subsidise the business. A prior deduction for commercial use should be considered where that use causes significantly higher costs. Often the business has its own bins; then those fees must be taken out of the allocation entirely.
Vacant flats
Empty flats produce little waste, but the standing charge for the bins continues. The share attributable to vacancy is borne by the landlord (BGH, judgment of 31 May 2006 – VIII ZR 159/05). Check whether the units stated in the statement match the actual occupancy of the building.
Putting the amount in context
The DMB national benchmark for the 2024 billing year gives waste disposal at €0.16 per square metre per month — about €134 a year for a 70 m² flat. Regional fee differences are considerable, so treat the figure as an average rather than a legal limit.
How to check your line
Note the total costs, the key, the total units and your share. Ask for the fee notice, the number and size of the bins, the collection frequency, and whether bulky waste or skip costs are included. You are entitled to inspect the documents under section 556(4) BGB.
Read on and check your own bill
For how shares are calculated, see allocation keys. For the documents behind the figures, see inspecting the invoices, and for context on amounts see average service charges per square metre.
Upload your statement to the free check to see how the waste line compares with the national benchmark and whether the arithmetic holds.