Property tax (Grundsteuer) is always owed by the owner, yet it can be passed on to tenants by way of the operating costs (Betriebskosten). The condition is that the apportionment has been properly agreed in the tenancy agreement. Since the 2025 property tax reform (Grundsteuerreform), the assessment notices have come out differently in many places, which once again makes the question of apportionment relevant for many owners in Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). This guide explains, calmly and clearly, when you may apportion property tax, which apportionment key applies, and what you should bear in mind when it comes to vacancies and commercial units.
May property tax be passed on to the tenant at all?
Yes. Property tax is one of the operating costs (Betriebskosten) that may be apportioned. The Operating Costs Ordinance (Betriebskostenverordnung, BetrKV) even lists it first in its catalogue: under § 2 No. 1 BetrKV, the operating costs include the ongoing public charges levied on the property, and these expressly comprise property tax.
This does not mean, however, that the apportionment happens automatically. The party liable for the tax vis-à-vis the local authority remains you as the owner; the assessment notice is addressed solely to you. Whether you may then pass this burden on to the tenant depends entirely on the tenancy agreement. The legal bridge for this is § 556 of the German Civil Code (BGB): under this provision, landlord and tenant may agree that the tenant is to bear the operating costs.
Without such an agreement, all operating costs, including property tax, are already covered by the basic rent. In that case you bear the tax yourself and cannot pass it on to the tenant after the event.
What agreement does the tenancy agreement need?
The apportionment stands or falls with a valid clause in the tenancy agreement. For privately financed residential accommodation, an express and unambiguous agreement is required for this. In practice, two routes suffice:
- the agreement names property tax expressly as an item to be apportioned, or
- the agreement refers generally to the operating costs within the meaning of § 2 BetrKV. Such a reference to the Operating Costs Ordinance also captures property tax, since it is named there.
Timing is decisive: a missing apportionment agreement cannot simply be introduced after the event. If nothing has been agreed during an ongoing tenancy, the property tax remains with the owner until both sides agree otherwise by mutual consent. Anyone who uses a clear operating-costs clause from the outset avoids precisely this gap.
Precisely because so much depends on the wording here, care pays off as early as the drafting of the agreement. For the specific drafting of a clause, your own legal adviser is, in case of doubt, the right point of contact.
By which apportionment key is property tax distributed?
In a multi-unit building, a property tax assessment notice relates to the entire property. The burden must therefore be distributed among the individual tenancies according to a comprehensible standard.
If you have agreed an apportionment key in the tenancy agreement, that key takes precedence. In the absence of such an agreement, the statutory default rule of § 556a (1) BGB applies: the operating costs are then to be apportioned according to the share of living space (Wohnfläche). For property tax, living space is thus the standard measure, since the tax does not depend on the consumption of individual tenants.
An example illustrates the calculation: if the annual property tax for a building amounts to 1,200 euros and one flat accounts for 80 of a total of 400 square metres of living space, then this tenant bears one fifth, that is 240 euros per year. You pass this share on through the annual operating-costs statement, together with the other apportionable items.
Vacancies: who bears the share for the empty flat?
You may only apportion the costs attributable to actually let space. If a flat in the building stands empty, its share of the property tax may not be distributed among the remaining tenants.
The share attributable to the vacant unit is borne by the owner. The same applies to space that you use yourself. Vacancy is part of the entrepreneurial risk of letting and is not an item that the tenant helps to finance.
In practical terms, this means: you scale the total costs down on the basis of the total living space and apportion only the shares attributable to let flats. The remainder stays with you. A proper allowance for vacancy is not only correct but also a frequent point of scrutiny at which statements are otherwise open to challenge.
Mixed use: residential and commercial in the same building
Where a building contains both flats and commercial units, the distribution becomes more demanding. Commercial space is often subject to a different fiscal and economic burden than residential accommodation. A simple distribution of the entire property tax by living space may then place an unreasonable burden on the residential tenants.
In such cases, case law requires an advance deduction (Vorwegabzug), provided that the commercial use leads to significant additional costs. The share attributable to the commercial use is first deducted, and only the remaining amount is then distributed among the flats according to the agreed or statutory key, usually the living space.
What remains decisive is the aim of an appropriate separation of costs: each type of use should bear the part attributable to it. For mixed-use properties, it is advisable to set out the distribution clearly in the agreement from the outset and, in case of doubt, to have it reviewed legally.
What the 2025 property tax reform means for apportionment
Since 1 January 2025, property tax has been recalculated throughout Germany. For many owners in Düsseldorf and NRW, this means a changed assessment notice, sometimes higher, sometimes lower than before. A common concern is: does the reform change anything about apportionability?
The clear answer is no. The reform has not amended § 2 No. 1 BetrKV. Property tax remains an apportionable type of operating cost, and even an amount that is higher following the reform can be passed on through the operating-costs statement, provided that a valid apportionment agreement exists. So if the tax rises, the apportionable share rises too; if it falls, the tenant benefits accordingly.
One special feature is the property tax C (Grundsteuer C) newly introduced with the reform. With it, local authorities can tax land that is ready for development but undeveloped at a higher rate, in order to mobilise building land. Since property tax C expressly concerns undeveloped land, it is of no relevance to an existing, let residential building. What is apportionable on your residential tenants is always only the property tax that burdens the actually let property, which as a rule is property tax B (Grundsteuer B).
How Richter supports you with letting
Whether property tax passes smoothly to the tenant is decided not in the statement, but as early as the tenancy agreement. This is precisely where we come in. As an estate agency with more than sixty years of history and a network grown over decades with more than 20,000 contacts in Düsseldorf and throughout NRW, we support owners in letting their property.
This includes the search for the right tenant, careful creditworthiness checks (Bonitätsprüfung) and a well-considered drafting of the agreement, in which the apportionment of the operating costs, including property tax, is properly agreed from the outset. On request, we work discreetly in the off-market sphere, and we are open at any time to cooperation with other agents.
The ongoing operating-costs statement and detailed legal questions concerning a specific clause belong in the hands of your property management or your legal adviser. We make sure that the foundations are right as early as the letting stage.
