Rental charges & maintenance costs in office space, warehouses & retail shops.
Individual and communal charges associated with the letting of offices, warehouses & retail unis – such as water, gas, electricity and common maintenance costs – can be surprisingly high. If you are a tenant about to sign a lease agreement, we strongly advise you to enquire about the charges you could face.
Rental charges are expenses incurred through the occupation of a property. They may be communal charges (also referred to as common, service or maintenance charges) and/or individual private charges.
Communal charges include maintenance expenses relating to co-ownership or building operation (lift costs, stairway lighting, cleaning fees, etc) but exclude large repairs. These communal charges are calculated in function of the surface area of the rented unit (the share or “quote-part” in French).
Individual charges relate directly to consumption by the tenant (principally water, gas and electricity). They are either billed directly to the tenant by the energy supplier or indirectly via the co-ownership/property manager (split depending on whether the meters are individual or common).
Property tax and the owner’s share of fire insurance are often charged to the tenant in commercial real estate!
Property management company fees are a controversial subject because they are not regulated by law. Owners often charge them to their tenants.
These rental charges should not be confused with rental repairs and building maintenance, the objective of which is to keep the building in good condition (such as replacing lamps, unblocking drains and servicing the boiler). Maintenance and rental repairs are also paid by the tenant, with the exception of major repairs relating principally to dilapidation (roof, water boiler, white goods, etc.).
In general, the lease agreement stipulates that the tenant should pay monthly advance payments, in addition to the rent. These advance payments are deposits on actual expenses which are calculated definitively in the final accounts, generally on an annual basis. The lease contract can however stipulate another interval. If the advances paid by the tenant are inferior to the actual charges due, the tenant has to pay the difference to the owner. And vice versa. In summary, this method is based on the tenant’s actual consumption.
A flat fee is a fixed amount stipulated in the lease agreement. It does not have to correspond to the tenant’s actual charges. Indeed, no final accounts are prepared. The owner is not entitled to demand a supplement from the tenant, even if the flat fee does not cover the actual tenant charges. On the other hand, each of the parties can, at any time, request a "justice of peace" to adapt the amount of the flat fee or change the flat fee into actual charges if the current situation obviously no longer corresponds to the initial situation.
In principle, the law considers that the limitation period for recuperating charges is five years. This period starts from the date of issuing the final account or meter reading.
This is not a reason for the homeowner to delay sending the final account to the tenant! Indeed, some judges have condemned the slowness or inaction of landlords because they are bound to provide the tenant with supporting documentation for charges within a reasonable period, and at least once a year!
On the other hand, if the final balance of rental charges is in your favour and the landlord delays reimbursement, you are entitled to refer the matter to a small claims court.
The energy performance certificate (EPC in Dutch, PEB in French) is the “energy identity card” of a property and gives you an indication if the property is well insulated and how much energy it consumes annually in kWh.