Hausgeld vs Nebenkosten: Stop Confusing Them

Hausgeld and Nebenkosten are two of the most widely confused terms in German residential property management. They sound similar, they involve some of the same line items, and they both arrive as bills that look broadly alike. They are not the same thing. Confusing them costs landlords money in two places: in the annual Nebenkostenabrechnung, where lines that cannot be passed on to tenants get passed on anyway and have to be refunded later, and on the Anlage V tax return, where the non-recoverable portion of Hausgeld is fully deductible but only if you separate it correctly from the rest.

This guide explains the distinction in one paragraph, then walks through what’s inside each, how the overlap works, and how to read your Hausgeld statement to pull out the parts you can legally bill on to a tenant.

The core distinction in one paragraph

Hausgeld is what an apartment owner pays to the WEG (Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft) for the running of the entire building. It is paid by the owner regardless of whether the apartment is rented out. Nebenkosten (formally Betriebskosten) is what the tenant pays to the landlord for the running of the rented apartment. It exists only when there is a tenant. The two are connected because part of the Hausgeld covers operating costs that the law allows the landlord to recover from the tenant via Nebenkosten. But Hausgeld also contains items that are the owner’s expense and cannot be passed on, no matter what the lease says.

What’s inside Hausgeld

Hausgeld is structured into three buckets. Your Hausverwaltung’s quarterly or annual statement should make these visible. If yours doesn’t, ask for a breakdown.

1. Betriebskosten (operating costs of the building)

The day-to-day running costs of the whole property. Examples:

• Water and sewage for the building
• Heating (if central, billed via the WEG)
• Building electricity (Treppenhaus, hallway lights, Aufzug)
• Refuse collection (Müllabfuhr)
• Building cleaning (Treppenhausreinigung, Hausreinigung)
• Garden maintenance
• Building insurance (Gebäudeversicherung, Haftpflicht)
• Property tax (Grundsteuer) on the apartment
• Hausmeister wages
• Chimney sweep (Schornsteinfeger)
• Lift service contract (Aufzugswartung)
• Common-area pest control where preventive
• Antenna or cable contract for the building

Most of these are recoverable from the tenant under § 2 BetrKV. Most, not all. The recoverability check is item-by-item, not bucket-wide.

2. Verwaltungskosten (administrative costs)

The cost of running the WEG itself. Examples:

• Fee paid to the Hausverwaltung (typically €20 to €30 per unit per month in 2026)
• WEG bank account fees
• Costs of the annual Eigentümerversammlung
• Statutory audit costs if applicable

None of these are recoverable from the tenant. They are the owner’s expense.

3. Instandhaltungsrücklage (maintenance reserve)

A monthly contribution into a reserve fund that the WEG holds for future major repairs (roof, façade, lift overhaul, etc.). Recommended size is around €10 to €15 per m² per year for an older building, less for new builds.

Not recoverable from the tenant. Even when the reserve is actually spent on a repair, that repair is a capital expense, not a Nebenkosten item. The tenant pays nothing toward this bucket.

What’s inside Nebenkosten (Betriebskosten)

§ 2 BetrKV lists 16 categories of cost that the landlord may pass on to the tenant if the lease provides for it. In order:

1. Grundsteuer
2. Water supply (Wasserversorgung)
3. Sewage (Entwässerung)
4. Heating (Heizung) and warm water
5. Lift (Aufzug)
6. Refuse collection and street cleaning
7. Building cleaning and pest control
8. Garden maintenance
9. Lighting of communal areas
10. Chimney sweep
11. Building insurance and Haftpflicht
12. Hausmeister wages
13. Common antenna or cable
14. Communal washing facilities
15. Other operating costs (Sonstige Betriebskosten, very narrow)
16. Costs related to TV reception infrastructure (after the 2024 reform)

For a cost to be recoverable, it must appear on this list and the lease must contain a clause allowing recovery. A lease that does not mention Nebenkosten at all means the landlord cannot pass any of these costs through, even Grundsteuer.

The overlap: how Hausgeld feeds Nebenkosten

In practice, when you own a WEG apartment and rent it out, the Hausgeld statement you receive from the Hausverwaltung is the source document. From that statement, you extract the portion that qualifies under § 2 BetrKV and pass it on to the tenant via your annual Nebenkostenabrechnung.

A simplified example for an apartment with €4,800 annual Hausgeld:

In this example, €3,720 of the €4,800 Hausgeld is recoverable from the tenant. €1,080 (the Hausverwaltung fee plus the reserve contribution) stays with the owner.

The owner-only items in more detail

Three categories never pass through to the tenant. These are the ones landlords most often try and lose:

Verwaltungskosten

The Hausverwaltung fee is not a building operating cost in the BetrKV sense. It is an administrative cost of the WEG. The BGH has been clear on this for two decades. Trying to allocate a portion of the Hausverwaltung fee under “Hausmeister” or “Sonstige Betriebskosten” is consistently struck down.

Instandhaltungsrücklage

The reserve contribution is a capital savings mechanism, not a running cost. Even if the reserve is fully spent in a given year on a real repair (e.g., roof replacement), that repair is a Herstellungs- or Erhaltungsaufwand for the WEG and ultimately for the owners, not a Betriebskosten line for the tenant.

A subtle exception: if a specific repair was funded directly out of current-year Hausgeld instead of being drawn from the reserve, and the repair qualifies as Erhaltungsaufwand (not Modernisierung), and it is a true operating-type repair like a one-off cleaning, then the operating-type portion may be recoverable. This is narrow and worth a legal check before claiming.

Sonderumlagen

A Sonderumlage is a one-off contribution the WEG demands from owners for an extraordinary measure (façade renovation, roof, balcony repair). These are always owner expenses. The fact that you paid out of pocket does not make the cost recoverable from the tenant. The tenant sees these only indirectly through any subsequent Modernisierungsumlage under § 559 BGB, which is a separate mechanism with its own legal framework.

The two-page reality of running the numbers

For each year, you essentially produce two documents:

Document 1: Hausgeldabrechnung (you receive from the Hausverwaltung). Annual statement showing every line, your share of each, what you’ve paid in monthly advances, and the balancing payment or refund.

Document 2: Nebenkostenabrechnung (you produce for the tenant). Re-categorisation of Document 1 into the BetrKV-recoverable portion only, divided by the tenant’s allocation key (m², persons, or consumption), with their prepayments deducted to show the Nachzahlung or refund.

Document 2 is always smaller than Document 1. The difference is exactly what stays with the owner. That difference is your most important tax-deductible expense line on Anlage V.

The Anlage V connection

This is where the distinction makes or saves you real money.

On the Anlage V, line for non-recoverable Hausgeld:

• The non-recoverable portion (Verwaltungskosten + Instandhaltungsrücklage + Sonderumlagen) is fully deductible as Werbungskosten. It reduces your taxable rental income.
• The recoverable portion is income-neutral. You receive it from the tenant (income side) and pay it to the WEG (expense side). The two sides cancel out.

Many landlords either:

• Deduct the full Hausgeld as a Werbungskosten. The Finanzamt corrects this and adds the recoverable portion back as income. You lose the time spent and risk being seen as careless.
• Deduct nothing from Hausgeld and miss the non-recoverable portion. You over-pay tax by 40 to 45% × non-recoverable portion every year.

For the example apartment above, the €1,080 non-recoverable annual Hausgeld at a 42% marginal tax rate is worth €454 in actual tax savings per year. Over a 10-year hold, that’s €4,540 in real money. Multiply by your portfolio size.

Use our AfA calculator and rental yield calculator to model the impact alongside depreciation and other Werbungskosten. The relevant connection is that net rental yield depends on the non-recoverable portion, not the full Hausgeld.

How to read your Hausgeld statement

A typical Hausverwaltung sends a quarterly or annual statement structured like a P&L for the WEG. To extract the Nebenkosten portion:

1. Identify the heating and water sections. Usually pre-separated by the Heizkostenabrechner (Techem, ista, Brunata, Minol) and allocated by consumption.
2. Identify the Betriebskosten section. Walk line by line, ticking each line against the § 2 BetrKV list. If a line is on the list, it’s recoverable.
3. Identify the Verwaltungskosten line. Often labelled as “Hausverwaltervergütung” or “Verwaltungshonorar”. This stays with the owner.
4. Identify the Instandhaltungsrücklage line. Usually a dedicated line item. Stays with the owner.
5. Identify any Sonderumlage. Usually called out explicitly. Stays with the owner.

If a single line is ambiguous (e.g., a “Sonstiges” or “Diverses” line), ask the Hausverwaltung for the breakdown before deciding whether to pass it on. Wrongly passing it on results in a tenant refund demand the following year.

Common landlord mistakes

1. Passing the Hausverwaltung fee through to the tenant. Most common. Tenant catches it during the typical 12-month challenge window and demands refund.
2. Passing through Instandhaltungsrücklage contributions disguised as “Reserve für Instandhaltung” in the Nebenkostenabrechnung. Voided by every German court.
3. Charging the tenant for repairs paid from the Instandhaltungsrücklage. The reserve was already withheld from non-recoverable Hausgeld; charging again is double recovery.
4. Treating Sonderumlagen as Nebenkosten. They aren’t.
5. Not splitting the Hausgeld at all on Anlage V. Either you deduct the full amount (Finanzamt corrects) or you deduct nothing (you overpay). Neither matches reality.
6. Splitting consumption-based items (heating, water) on a per-m² basis. Under § 7 HeizkostenV, at least 50% of heating costs must be allocated by consumption, often 70%.
7. Treating Grundsteuer as non-recoverable. It is recoverable, listed at position 1 of § 2 BetrKV.

Quick reference

How this fits the wider workflow

Hausgeld vs Nebenkosten is the foundation under everything else in property operations:

• The Verteilerschlüssel in the Nebenkostenabrechnung only operates on the recoverable portion of Hausgeld.
• The Mietkaution withholding for an outstanding Nachzahlung only relates to the recoverable portion. A landlord cannot hold back deposit money for owner-side Hausgeld items.
• On the Anlage V, the non-recoverable Hausgeld is one of the larger Werbungskosten lines. Most landlords undercount it.
• On the rental yield calculator, the field “non-recoverable Hausgeld” is the exact number that drives net yield. Get this number right and the calculator gives you a realistic picture. Get it wrong and the rest of the model is built on sand.

This is one of the most consequential operational distinctions in residential property management. Getting it right once at the start of a tenancy avoids years of confused tenant disputes and tax filings, and is the difference between landlords who run a portfolio professionally and landlords who lose 1 to 2% of yield annually to administrative leakage.