Recoverable service charges: the list, and the traps that cost the landlord

A closed list, and what it leaves to the landlord

Article 23 of the law of 6 July 1989 states the principle in a sentence: the landlord may ask the tenant to reimburse only the recoverable charges listed by decree. That decree, of 26 August 1987, sets out the list in its annex. It is not read by analogy.

The list covers the costs of use: the lift's electricity and routine upkeep, cold and hot water, energy for collective heating, electricity and cleaning of the common parts, upkeep of paths and gardens, and a handful of taxes and fees. Whatever concerns the preservation of the building is absent.

For a landlord in a co-ownership building, the consequence can be read on every call for funds from the managing agent. Managing agent's fees, major works, façade renovation, contributions to the works fund, building insurance: none of these items is on the list, and none can be passed on. How to read those calls from the co-owner's side is the subject of our article on co-ownership charges in Nice.

In a dispute, it is for the landlord to justify the expense, invoice in hand. A charge that is recoverable by nature but for which the landlord cannot produce the document cannot be claimed.

The lines that mislead

The caretaker first. Where they handle both the upkeep of the common parts and the removal of waste, their pay is recoverable up to 75 %. Where they handle only one of the two tasks, up to 40 %. A building employee who is not a caretaker is recoverable in full.

For the lift, electricity and routine operation are recoverable, as are minor repairs. The five-yearly technical inspection is not, any more than the replacement of equipment, unless it costs no more than the minor repair it replaces.

Maintenance contracts need reading line by line. A contract that mixes routine upkeep, which is recoverable, with the replacement of parts, which is not, has to be split. A tenant presented with the whole invoice can challenge it without difficulty.

Private electricity, finally, does not go through the charges: the tenant takes out their own supply contract. And in a building fitted with remotely read heating or hot water meters, the landlord must also send the tenant their consumption information every month.

Provisions, statement, adjustment

In an unfurnished letting, charges are paid through provisions, regular advances of the same amount paid with the rent. Their level is set on the basis of the forecast budget and the outcome of the last adjustment. A provision kept deliberately low, to advertise a more attractive rent including charges, turns against the landlord when the balance falls due.

At least once a year, the landlord compares total provisions with actual expenditure. They refund any excess or claim the shortfall. One month before this adjustment, they send the statement by type of charge and the method of apportionment between homes, with, where relevant, a note on how collective heating and hot water are calculated.

The supporting documents, invoices and supply contracts, then remain available to the tenant for six months. In a co-ownership building the managing agent often holds them, and the landlord must be able to obtain them in time. Where the water contract is not individual, the water bill and the information on water quality are also passed on, once a year.

The managing agent's statement follows the approval of the accounts at the general meeting, and the tenancy adjustment follows that timetable. The adjustment therefore often comes late, and it weighs less when the provision was right from the outset.

Adjusting late: possible, but not without risk

A forgotten adjustment is not lost. The landlord may claim arrears of charges for three years: a debt arising in March 2026 can be claimed until March 2029. The period runs both ways, and a tenant who has overpaid has the same three years.

The juge des contentieux de la protection, the court that hears tenancy cases, may nevertheless refuse a late claim it considers unfair and abrupt, resulting from the landlord's own fault, for instance where the tenant had asked for the adjustment and received no reply.

And where the adjustment was not made before the end of the calendar year following the date the charges fell due, the tenant may insist that the balance be spread over twelve months. Several years of charges claimed at once are then paid in monthly instalments.

When the tenant leaves a building with several dwellings, the landlord may keep a provision of up to 20 % of the deposit pending the annual closing of the building's accounts. Our article on the inventory of condition describes how it works.

Furnished lettings and the fixed sum

In a furnished letting, the lease chooses between two systems: provisions with an adjustment, exactly as for an unfurnished home, or a fixed sum. In a flatshare, a fixed sum is also possible. In a mobility lease, it is compulsory.

The fixed sum is a set amount, written into the lease and paid with the rent. It gives rise to no adjustment, neither top-up nor refund. It may be reviewed each year on the same terms as the rent, and must not be disproportionate to the charges applied to the previous tenant.

A fixed sum set too low can never be recovered, even after an expensive winter of collective heating, while one set too high invites a challenge. The only sound method is to base it on actual expenditure over recent years, with the documents to show for it.

The household waste tax, and its management fees

The household waste collection tax appears on the owner's property tax notice. It is one of the recoverable charges, like the street-cleaning tax and the sewerage fee, and the landlord may claim it from the tenant as of right.

It is not recoverable in full, however, because the tax authority adds management fees to the tax, and these are not on the decree's list. The impots.gouv.fr site says so plainly: the tax is recoverable, management fees excluded. Passing on the line exactly as it appears on the notice means claiming more than is due.

Property tax itself stays with the owner. It is not a recoverable charge, and no lease clause can shift it to the tenant.

A sound adjustment fits in a table setting each expense against its recoverable share. It is the work a management mandate redoes every year, with the managing agent's statement in hand. Promenades Services manages properties in Nice and along the nearby coast, from 107 Promenade des Anglais.