Reader question: How can a reduction of the advance payment for operating costs be checked concretely after the settlement?
The operating costs statement shows a credit. You therefore want to pay less in advance in future. The payout of the credit and the amount of the next monthly advance payment are, however, two separate processes. First clarify the actual cost base and then formulate a comprehensible adjustment.
Advance payment or flat rate?
§ 556 BGB distinguishes agreed operating cost flat rates and advance payments. § 560 paragraph 4 allows either party, after a settlement in the case of advance payments, to make an adjustment to a reasonable amount by declaration in text form. [BGB556] [BGB560]
Different rules in § 560 apply to a flat rate. A bank transfer with the purpose reference Nebenkosten does not determine this contract type. Place the contract and the current settlement side by side and have any unclear agreement classified first.
Understanding the credit
Our editorial recommendation: Check why the credit arose. Were unusually high advance payments set? Is a cost item missing from a possibly incomplete bill? Did you only live there for part of the year? Or are actually lower ongoing costs stated?
A result from a faulty or not understood settlement should not quietly serve as a sure calculation for the future. Keep a settlement correction separate from the adjustment of the next advance payments. Both may be necessary, but they answer different questions.
An arithmetic anchor without false precision
An expressly invented example: For a full year, comprehensible costs of 2.160 euros are stated. Division by twelve yields 180 euros per month. Previously 220 euros were paid monthly in advance, i.e. 2.640 euros per year. The difference of 480 euros explains the credit in this simplified case.
The 180 euros are initially a computational starting point, not a general automatic cap for every following month. Check known changes and the appropriateness in the concrete case. Conversely, a mere feeling that everything will certainly become more expensive must not make the underlying assumptions invisible. This article does not set a blanket risk surcharge.
Structuring the declaration concretely
Identify the last settlement, its period, the cost base derived from it and the proposed or professionally clarified new amount. Separate base rent, the relevant advance payment and other payments that continue to exist. A change in the operating cost advance payment is not a tacit change of any other rental component.
If in doubt, agree the start of the adjustment and the correct written form of declaration on a professional basis. This contribution does not provide a universally calculated personal effective date. Keep your declaration and the response or proof of receipt together with the bill.
A fictitious case with announced change
In Anja’s case the past annual bill results in a credit. At the same time there is specific information about a changed ongoing cost item. She asks about its basis and takes it into account when checking the appropriate advance payment. She neither simply adopts the old high amount unchanged nor ignores the plausibly documented change.
The new advance payment remains an ongoing advance. It does not guarantee any specific result of the next annual settlement. A private additional buffer can be sensible alongside this, but it is not presented as a legally owed payment. The aim is a declared and comprehensibly appropriate monthly payment instead of a mere reaction to the last credit.