Operating cost statement after moving out

Hello everyone,

I moved out of my rental apartment on January 31, 2016.
However, I was hardly ever in the apartment during that one month in 2016.

Now, according to the property management, I have to pay almost €50 in additional operating costs.

The property management took the total costs for 2016 and divided them by 12.
Is that correct? What were the meter readings for then, etc.?

What is included in the final statement? In many multi-party buildings, the settlement is based not only on the individual meter reading but also on the total consumption of the building (keyword distribution key).

"According to the law, the landlord is generally required to settle at least 50 to a maximum of 70 percent of the warm ancillary costs based on consumption (§ 7 HeizkostenV)"

Therefore, it is possible that you have an additional payment despite low actual consumption. As mentioned, the details of how the costs are calculated should be listed in detail on the final statement.

Is that correct?

This cannot possibly be answered based on your description.

IMHO, the following approach makes sense:
- Check the statement for gross discrepancies and calculation errors (what is even being billed ...)
- Compare the statement with the statement from the previous year
- Are the keys correct (living space etc.)?
- Are the meter readings correct?
- Have the installments been correctly taken into account?
- Are there dubious/unauthorized items (in your case perhaps costs for mid-year reading due to tenant change --> unauthorized).

So, question to you:
What are you being asked to pay extra for (items)? How much do you have to pay in total (installment + additional payment)? Is that more or less than last year, if yes how much and where are the biggest differences?

And furthermore, you should ask yourself, is the whole fuss worth 50€ or not. I would draw a line under it and think to myself "L*** me"

I also moved out on 31.01.2016 and received the statement for 2015 in November 2016... a credit.

Now I have to wait until November 2017 for the 2016 statement (1 month).... only after that do they want to pay out my security deposit...

So also see the positive in your statement...

The full retention of the rental deposit is afaik only possible if there were significant additional payments beforehand or if it can be assumed that a "chunk" occurred in the billing year, e.g. the oil price has exploded, so that an additional payment is expected. Otherwise, only a small retention is possible, in the case of earlier refunds almost none.