Rental charges
Rental charge regularization: what you can recover, and by when
Once a year, the provisions a tenant paid meet what the building really cost. The difference is settled either way: a refund to the tenant, or a top-up they owe. What counts, how it is split and the deadline to send it all depend on where the building stands.
Charge statement
Charge year 2025, flat 3B
- Water€310
- Collective heating€420
- Elevator€95
- Common areas€180
- Waste collection tax€145
- Real charges, your share
- €1.150
- Provisions paid, 12 × €80
- − €960
How it works
Provisions every month, the real figure once a year
Shared costs such as water, heating, an elevator or waste collection are only known once the bills for the year are in. So the tenant pays an estimate each month, and the regularization turns that estimate into a fact.
- 1
The tenant pays a provision
A fixed amount on top of the rent each month, set in the lease and based on last year’s real costs.
- 2
The year’s bills come in
The landlord, or the building’s manager, totals what each recoverable cost really came to and works out this unit’s share.
- 3
The statement settles it
Real share minus provisions paid. Positive, the tenant tops up. Negative, the landlord refunds. The provision for next year is adjusted too.
Not every lease works this way. Some fix a flat charge (a forfait) that is never regularized: the tenant pays it whatever the building costs. Whether that is allowed, and for which leases, is set by the law where the building stands.
Rules by country
The deadline and the split where your building stands
Pick a country, and a region where letting is legislated below the country. Each rule says whether it was read in a source or is the default Dardaris starts from.
Opened on the country this looks like you are reading from.
- Send the statement within
- 12 monthsDefault, unconfirmed
- Tenant may inspect invoices
- YesRead in a source
- Shared out by
- per unit, per m², per person, per share (quotité), metered consumption, a fixed splitRead in a source
- Governed by
- The Flemish Housing Rental Decree (Vlaams Woninghuurdecreet)
Flanders sets no statutory deadline; Dardaris defaults to twelve months after the charge year. The tenant may ask for the detailed statement and the underlying invoices at any time.
Recoverable charges
The table of recoverable charges, and what stays with the owner
Some countries list in law exactly what may be passed on to a tenant. France is the clearest case: the annex to décret n° 87-713 is exhaustive, so a cost that is not on it stays with the owner, however real it is. Its eight headings are below.
The tenant pays
1.Elevators
Electricity, routine servicing, small repairs and the maintenance contract.
2.Water and collective heating
Cold and hot water, the fuel or energy for the boiler, its servicing, meter reading.
3.Individual installations
Servicing of a boiler or water heater in the flat, and small repairs to the water supply inside it.
4.Common areas inside
Cleaning, lighting, small repairs, and the caretaker’s share.
5.Outside areas
Upkeep of gardens, paths, car parks and play areas.
6.Hygiene
Bin handling, pest control, disinfection, cleaning products.
7.Miscellaneous equipment
Shared aerial, fire extinguishers, the building’s electricity for equipment.
8.Taxes and fees
Waste collection tax (TEOM), street-sweeping tax, sewage fee.
The owner keeps
- Property tax (taxe foncière)
- Management fees and the managing agent’s fees
- Major works: roof, façade, replacing a boiler or an elevator
- The owner’s own insurance
- The management fee added to the waste collection tax
The caretaker is shared out by task. 75% of the salary is recoverable when the caretaker handles both the bins and the cleaning, 40% when they handle only one of the two.
Belgium and the Netherlands have no single list: the lease itself has to itemise what may be charged. Elsewhere, check the rules where your building stands before you pass a cost on.
Waste collection tax
Is the waste collection tax the tenant’s to pay?
In France, yes. The taxe d’enlèvement des ordures ménagères (TEOM) arrives on the owner’s property tax notice, but it pays for a service the occupant uses, so it is on the list of recoverable charges and passes to the tenant through the regularization.
- Only the tax itself. The management fee the tax office adds on top of the TEOM is not part of the tax and stays with the owner.
- For the time the tenant lived there. A tenant who arrived or left during the year pays the share of the TEOM for the months they occupied the flat.
- Through the regularization, with its proof. Charge it as part of the yearly statement, and keep the tax notice among the invoices the tenant may ask to see.
Property tax notice
- Property tax (taxe foncière)Owner
- Waste collection tax (TEOM)Tenant
- Management fee on the TEOMOwner
If the tenant won’t pay
Not paying the regularization: what happens next
A regularization sent correctly and on time is a debt, the same as rent. A tenant cannot simply decide the total is wrong and stop paying. But the tenant has real grounds when the landlord did not follow the rules, and a landlord who waits too long loses the right to claim at all.
The road to recovery
- 1
Send the statement with its breakdown
The total, the breakdown by type of charge, how it was shared out, and the invoices available on request.
- 2
Remind, then put on formal notice
A reminder first, then a formal demand by registered letter that states the amount and the deadline to pay.
- 3
Try conciliation
In France, a dispute over charges can go to the departmental conciliation commission, free of charge, before any court.
- 4
Go to court
The judge for tenancy disputes. An unpaid regularization follows the same path as unpaid rent, up to the termination clause in the lease.
When the tenant has a point
- No breakdown, no proof. A total with no detail by type of charge, or invoices refused on request, is not a regularization the tenant has to accept.
- A cost that is not recoverable. Property tax, management fees or major works slipped into the statement can be refused, line by line.
- Too late. In France a claim prescribes after three years; in the Netherlands a statement more than six months late loses the shortfall entirely.
- Late, but still owed. In France, a regularization sent more than a year late can be paid in twelve monthly instalments if the tenant asks.
Other countries set their own limits. The rules section above shows what is known for your building’s.
How Dardaris helps
The split runs itself, and the shortfall is never a guess
Dardaris allocates every recoverable cost across your units the way your jurisdiction allows: by unit, floor area, headcount, share, metered consumption or a fixed split. It shows whether the provisions you collected covered what you spent, and warns you before the deadline where your building stands.
Questions about the rental charge regularization
What is a rental charge regularization?
The yearly reconciliation between the provisions a tenant paid toward shared costs and what those costs really came to. The difference is settled either way: the tenant tops up a shortfall, or the landlord refunds an overpayment.
Where do I find the table of recoverable charges?
In France, in the annex to décret n° 87-713 of 26 August 1987, which lists eight headings exhaustively: elevators, water and collective heating, individual installations, common areas inside, outside areas, hygiene, miscellaneous equipment, and taxes and fees. Belgium and the Netherlands have no single list, so what is recoverable there is what the lease itemises.
Is the waste collection tax (TEOM) paid by the tenant?
In France, yes: the TEOM is on the décret 87-713 list, so the landlord recovers it through the regularization, for the months the tenant lived there. The management fee the tax office adds on top is not recoverable and stays with the owner.
Is there a deadline to send the regularization?
It depends on the jurisdiction. France asks for the breakdown a month before an annual regularization and lets a claim prescribe after three years. The Netherlands loses the right to a shortfall six months after the charge year ends. Flanders and Wallonia set no statutory deadline. The rules section on this page shows the one for your building.
Can a tenant refuse to pay the regularization?
Not simply by disagreeing with the total. A correctly issued regularization is a debt like rent, and an unpaid one follows the same recovery path. The tenant may refuse a charge that is not recoverable, ask to see the invoices, and refuse a claim that is past its deadline.
Can a landlord claim several years of charges at once?
In France, up to three years back, since claims under a lease prescribe after three years. If the regularization comes more than a year late, the tenant may ask to pay it in twelve monthly instalments.
What if the landlord never sends a regularization?
Provisions are advances, not a price. In France, a tenant who never received a justified regularization may ask for the provisions back, within the three-year limit.
Does a flat forfait get regularized?
No. A forfait is a fixed amount that is never adjusted to real costs. Whether a lease may use one depends on the jurisdiction: in France, for example, it is possible in a furnished lease or a flatshare, not in an unfurnished lease.
Never miss a regularization deadline again
Dardaris tracks every service charge against the deadline your building’s own jurisdiction sets, and does the split for you.
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