Checking service charges: advances and the annual statement

What service costs are

Service costs are costs on top of the bare rent of your home. The Dutch government gives examples such as cleaning, insurance and small repairs. Gas, water and electricity only count as service costs when you receive them through your landlord. If you pay them yourself, directly to the energy or water company, they are utilities rather than service costs. That is exactly what an individual meter is for: utilities in your own name come with an individual meter, and when the landlord supplies them there is usually a shared or landlord-managed meter.

A service cost amount is never a fixed entitlement. It is an advance on what the landlord pays on your behalf. You can therefore challenge the amount charged by comparing it with what was actually spent. A service cost amount that appears unchanged on your monthly bill next to the rent can be left unnoticed or simply passed on; the annual settlement is the moment to check it.

There is also a distinction between service costs that apply to everyone in the building and services agreed for only part of the tenants. Think of a maintenance subscription for specific tenants, a shared home, or a detached house. If something changes in the service that applies only to those tenants, only those tenants have to agree. For new shared services in an apartment building, with the corresponding service costs, the threshold is 70 per cent: 70 per cent of the tenants must approve the new facility and the accompanying service costs.

• Service costs sit on top of the bare rent, for example for cleaning, insurance, small repairs or a TV and internet signal.
• Gas, water and electricity that you take out directly are utilities, not service costs; you have an individual meter for those.
• Gas, water and electricity that you receive through your landlord do count as service costs.
• A service cost amount is an advance; the settlement shows what was actually spent.
• Changes that apply to only part of the tenants need approval from only those tenants.
• New shared services in an apartment building require approval from 70% of the tenants.

Basic rent or all-in rent

If your tenancy agreement names a separate amount for the rent and one or more separate amounts for service costs, the rent price is the basic rent. That is the best situation for judging your costs, because you can see exactly what the home itself costs and what comes on top.

With an all-in rent the landlord has not split the basic rent from the service costs. You pay one amount and cannot see how much of it concerns the home itself. The Dutch government notes that it is then difficult to determine whether you are paying too much basic rent, and advises asking the landlord to split the all-in rent. A landlord does not always have to do that straight away, but it is a reasonable question to ask, especially when the amount is well above comparable homes nearby.

• An agreement with a separate rent amount and a separate service cost amount gives you a basic rent.
• With an all-in rent the basic rent is not visible.
• Ask the landlord to split the all-in rent, especially when the amount is well above comparable homes nearby.

From 2027: at most eight kinds of service costs

For tenancy agreements signed on or after 1 January 2027 a new regulation applies. Landlords may then pass on at most eight kinds of service cost. That has consequences for what may and may not appear on your monthly invoice, and therefore for the agreements you make with your landlord.

The eight permitted categories are: supply of hot water or heat and cold air for heating or cooling; supply of gas, water and electricity for the home and the shared areas; use of furniture, household appliances and other separate items belonging to the landlord, such as curtains, a washing machine or a separate fridge; small repairs you have agreed the landlord will carry out, such as replacing a bulb in a shared area or bleeding and topping up a boiler; supervision, security and refuse, such as alarm systems, tackling nuisance and the removal of household and bulky waste; supply of a television, internet and landline signal, such as a subscription, an aerial or a wifi router; insurance and small-maintenance funds, such as a glass, bulb, drain-cleaning or painting fund; and administration costs, such as preparing the annual statement and allocating the costs across tenants.

Small repairs only count if you have explicitly agreed that the landlord carries them out. That differs from the tenant's existing duty under Dutch civil law to carry out minor maintenance in the home itself. Note the wording in that list: an internet signal counts if the landlord contracted the provider, not if you sign that contract yourself and have the cost passed on.

If your tenancy agreement was signed before 1 January 2027, the rules in your existing agreement continue to apply. You can agree with your landlord to apply the new rules to your home as well. Make that choice deliberately: fewer items on the invoice does not automatically mean you pay less, because the landlord will otherwise handle those costs in another way. Ask what concretely changes before you agree.

If your contract was signed before 1 January 2027, the rules from your existing contract apply. You can agree with your landlord to have the new rules apply to your home as well. Ask what that concretely changes first: fewer items on the bill does not automatically mean you pay less.

• Agreements from 1 January 2027 onwards: at most eight kinds of service costs are permitted.
• Older agreements: the rules in your existing agreement apply, unless you opt in voluntarily.
• Small repairs only count if you agreed that the landlord carries them out.
• An internet signal counts if the landlord contracted the provider.
• Older contracts: the rules from your existing contract continue to apply unless you voluntarily agree to replace them.

The annual statement

A landlord is required to settle the actual service costs every year. The Dutch government puts it to tenants like this: you receive an overview of the costs on top of the rent every year, and you receive that overview at the latest on 1 July. It covers the previous calendar year. It shows whether you paid too much or too little, and whether money is returned to you or has to be paid by you.

The Rent Commission expresses the same moment in its policy book as a final settlement date of 30 June for the preceding year: for 2025 that is 30 June 2026, and for 2026 it is 30 June 2027. That is the same annual obligation, not a second or stricter deadline. The 30 June date applies to filing a request with the Rent Commission; the Rent Commission allows a further 24 months after the six-month period has expired for that request.

The Rent Commission also sets requirements for the statement itself. It has to show which costs were incurred, how much the landlord paid for them, and how that relates to the amount you pay monthly. If by 1 July you still have no statement, if the statement is incomplete, or if you disagree with part of it, contact your municipality's reporting point or the Rent Commission.

• You expect a statement of the service costs for the preceding calendar year every year, at the latest on 1 July.
• The Rent Commission uses 30 June as the final settlement date: that is the same moment, not an extra deadline.
• The statement shows the costs, the amount paid, and how that connects to your monthly amount.

What you can do when something is wrong

Start with a concrete check rather than a feeling that the amount is too high. Put your own monthly amount next to the settled amount and work out the difference. A difference of a few euros from rounding is something different from a gap of tens of euros. Then look per cost item at whether it reasonably belongs to your home: a security alarm is a different matter from a repair that was needed elsewhere in the building.

If doubts remain or the statement is incomplete, you can turn to your municipality's reporting point or to the Rent Commission. What the Rent Commission can do depends on the date your tenancy agreement was signed. For a contract from before 1 July 2024 it can issue a ruling if your home falls in the social sector; if that home falls in the free sector it can only issue advice, and only if you and your landlord both consent in writing. That advice is not a ruling. For a contract signed on or after 1 July 2024 the Rent Commission can issue a ruling for all rental homes, regardless of whether the home falls in the social, middle or free sector. On request of a tenant or a landlord it does so on the rent price or the service costs, and that ruling binds both parties.

A municipality can investigate and regulate a landlord's conduct. It can issue a warning, impose an order under penalty, or levy a fine. But a municipality cannot determine the amount of your service costs; only the Rent Commission or the district court can do that. The Rent Commission itself does not supervise or enforce: that is precisely why a municipality can investigate a report while the Rent Commission delivers a binding judgment.

The pattern is therefore: first request and check the statement, then go to the Rent Commission for the content of the amount, and to the municipality for the way you were treated as a tenant. That works fastest if you keep the two routes separate and send a written record of each step.

• Compare your monthly amount with the settled amount and calculate the difference.
• Check per cost item whether it belongs to your home.
• Request the statement if you have not received it, at the latest on 1 July.
• For the amount of the service costs: for a contract from 1 July 2024 or later a binding ruling from the Rent Commission, for an older contract in the social sector also a ruling, and for an older contract in the free sector only advice if you and your landlord both consent in writing.
• For inappropriate conduct by the landlord: your municipality's reporting point, which can warn or levy a fine.