Twelve months after the end of the billing period
The statement of operating costs must be communicated to the tenant by the end of the twelfth month after the end of the billing period at the latest (section 556 (3) sentence 2 BGB). This means the allocable operating costs under section 2 BetrKV, commonly called service charges.
If you bill by calendar year, the deadline for 2025 ends on 31 December 2026. For a billing period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 it ends on 30 June 2027. The billing period itself may be twelve months long at most (section 556 (3) sentence 1 BGB).
Deadline = end of the billing period + 12 months (sections 187, 188 BGB)
Receipt counts, not sending
The deadline is only met if the statement reaches the tenant in time (BGH, VIII ZR 107/08). The postal service acts on your behalf: delays and loss are at your risk.
Plan for receipt a few working days before the deadline and with proof, for example by messenger with a witness or by Einwurf-Einschreiben. A letter dropped in the letterbox late on the last evening may only count as received the next day.
What happens when the deadline passes
After the deadline you can no longer claim a balance due unless you are not responsible for the delay (section 556 (3) sentence 3 BGB). You must still pay out any credit to the tenant.
The deadline also applies to let condominiums. A missing owners' association statement does not automatically postpone it. You can only argue that you were not responsible if you show concretely what you did to bill on time (BGH, VIII ZR 249/15).
Deadline on a weekend or public holiday
Whether the deadline moves to the next working day under section 193 BGB if its last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday has not been decided by the Federal Court of Justice. The statement is mostly not seen as a declaration of intent, which is what section 193 BGB is made for.
The calculator therefore always shows the calendar date and, in that case, names the last working day before it for safe planning. Example: billing period 2022, deadline Sunday 31 December 2023. Plan for receipt by Friday 29 December 2023 at the latest. Only nationwide public holidays are taken into account.
The tenant's objection period
The tenant must raise objections to the statement by the end of the twelfth month after receipt (section 556 (3) sentence 5 BGB). If the statement is received on 15 March 2026, the period runs at least until 15 March 2027. After that, objections only count if the tenant is not responsible for the delay.
Another reading counts until the end of the twelfth following month. If in doubt, take objections seriously until the later date.
Special cases
- Leap year: if the period ends on 29 February 2024, the deadline ends on 28 February 2025 (section 188 (3) BGB).
- Statement invalid in form: it does not meet the deadline. You can correct errors in content within the deadline. The calculator does not check this.
- Partial statements: you are not obliged to issue them (section 556 (3) sentence 4 BGB).
- Tenant has moved out: the deadline applies unchanged.
- Limitation of the claim for a balance due: three years from the end of the year in which a statement correct in form was received (sections 195, 199 BGB).