Service charge statement Switzerland: free template (Excel, Word & PDF) – and the items that should not be on your statement at all
Every spring it lands in the letterbox, and hundreds of thousands simply pay the balance without checking. Yet surprisingly many statements contain at least one item that does not belong there: repairs, management of the property, building insurance. Here is the free template to draw up a clean statement yourself in minutes, plus the check that tells you, item by item, whether your service charge statement is watertight or contestable.
💡 The question that decides everything: chargeable or not?
Before you check a single figure, you need to understand one thing: in Switzerland, service charges are not owed automatically. They only belong on your statement if they are expressly and separately listed in the tenancy agreement (Art. 257a CO). A blanket clause such as «including service charges» is not enough, generic descriptions are struck out by the conciliation authority. Whatever is not in the agreement is included in the rent, full stop.
The second hurdle: even agreed items must be genuine operating costs, that is, ongoing expenses for the use of the property. Repairs, maintenance, property management, building insurance, mortgage interest and value-enhancing investments are the owner's responsibility and may never be passed on, even if they were in the agreement. And finally, under Art. 257b CO: only the costs actually incurred may be billed, whether as advance payments or a flat rate.
The same heating bill is sometimes owed, sometimes not. It comes down to three things:
📝 Your service charge statement in 2 minutes
You are a landlord and have to draw up the statement yourself? No more searching for «service charge statement Excel free». Enter the individual items and the advance payments made, the generator automatically calculates the total and the balance and turns it into a clean, comprehensible statement. Download as PDF, print, send, done. You can also copy the text and edit it further in Word or Excel. Important: list each item separately, lump-sum items make the statement contestable.
🛠️ Service charge statement generator
Enter the items + advance payments → ready statement with automatic balance as PDF or to copy. Free, no registration.
🚦 Validity check: is your statement valid?
This is where the real value of this page lies: no other portal tells you so directly whether you have to pay the balance or not. The ConvivaPlus validity check asks you four questions about your specific statement and tells you in a second whether it is watertight, whether you should merely ask for clarification or whether it is contestable, and what you can do then.
🚦 ConvivaPlus validity check
Four questions about your service charge statement, and you know whether it is valid or contestable.
Are the service charges expressly and separately listed in your tenancy agreement?
Does the statement list each item separately with its amount (no lump-sum items)?
Are only operating costs shown, with no repairs, property management or insurance?
Is the statement drawn up at least once a year based on actual costs, with inspection of the documents granted?
How the ConvivaPlus validity check judges: if the costs are not separately agreed in the contract or a never-chargeable item appears (repair, property management, insurance), the statement is contestable (red). If inspection of documents is missing or an item is unclear, it pays to ask (amber). Only if all four conditions are met is it formally valid (green). This classification is the reading according to ConvivaPlus, derived from Art. 257a and 257b CO.
🧮 Allocation-key calculator: how much of the total is really yours?
The heating costs for the whole building come to 24,000 francs, and suddenly 1,800 appear on your statement. Is that right? It depends on the allocation key: by floor area (m²), by number of people, by value quota (condominium) or in equal shares. The ConvivaPlus allocation-key calculator does the maths for you: enter the total cost of an item and your share, and you see at once what is mathematically yours.
🧮 ConvivaPlus allocation-key calculator
Enter the total costs + the allocation key → your calculated share. Check whether the figure on your statement is right.
Guide value. The allocation key agreed in the tenancy agreement or regulations is decisive.
Methodology: the calculator allocates the total costs linearly according to the chosen key, according to ConvivaPlus following the usual practice in Switzerland (floor area, people, value quota or equal shares). Which key applies is set out in the tenancy agreement or the regulations. For consumption-based heating and hot water billing, measured consumption counts instead of floor area.
📊 Are your service charges too high? The ConvivaPlus Service Charge Index
In Zurich and Geneva service charges are about a fifth above the countryside, and the biggest item is almost always heating. To place your own statement: the ConvivaPlus Service Charge Index normalises the average service charges per square metre and year into a comparable figure (base 100 = Swiss average, around CHF 35/m²/year). Divide your total service charges by your floor area and see where you stand.
📊 ConvivaPlus Service Charge Index: your region compared
Enter your service charges per m² and year and choose your region, you see at once whether you are above or below the regional average.
Guide values from market analyses (mietkosten.ch, fairwalter, SVIT), average service charges per m² and year.
Methodology: base 100 = Swiss average of around CHF 35/m²/year (range CHF 25–45). according to ConvivaPlus, derived from public market analyses (mietkosten.ch, fairwalter, SVIT, as of 2026), citable with source attribution (CC BY 4.0).
📋 Cost catalogue A–Z: what may be included, what never?
This is the table you need before every statement. For each typical item it shows whether it is chargeable (and under what condition) or whether it never belongs on the service charge statement. Three columns, one glance, and you know where you can object.
| Type of cost | Chargeable? | Basis / condition |
|---|---|---|
| Heating & hot water | ✓ if agreed | By consumption in newer buildings. Largest item, check it first. |
| Water & waste water (consumption) | ✓ if agreed | Consumption share yes; fixed basic charges are partly the landlord's responsibility. |
| Common-area electricity (stairwell, laundry) | ✓ if agreed | Art. 257a CO, genuine operating costs. |
| Caretaker & cleaning | ✓ if agreed | Only ongoing operation, not repairs or replacement. |
| Lift: servicing & maintenance | ✓ if agreed | Maintenance contract yes, repair and replacement no. |
| Refuse & disposal | ✓ if agreed | Operating costs; municipal basic charges are sometimes disputed. |
| Service charge administration | ✓ if agreed | Only the effort to draw up the service charge statement (usually around 3 %), not property management. |
| Repairs & maintenance | ✗ never | Landlord's responsibility (Art. 256 CO), covered by the rent. |
| Property management | ✗ never | Owner's costs, part of the rent. |
| Building insurance & mortgage interest | ✗ never | Owner's costs, not passable on. |
| Property taxes & value-enhancing investments | ✗ never | Owner's matter, never on the service charge statement. |
📅 Deadlines, right to inspect and contestation
The good news first: you have more time and more rights than most people think. A claim only lapses after five years, you can demand inspection of the documents at any time, and the conciliation procedure costs you nothing. The key dates at a glance:
The law sets no fixed deadline, but the statement must be drawn up at least once a year, usually within around six months after the end of the billing period. If the landlord draws up no statement, you can reclaim the advance payments made.
You are entitled to inspect the original documents. You must exercise this at the landlord's premises; he need neither hand over the originals nor provide free copies, but must grant inspection.
There is no statutory objection period, but check promptly and object in writing (guide value: within around 30 days). Amounts paid in error can be reclaimed for up to ten years.
A landlord's claim lapses five years after the statement is drawn up (Art. 128 CO). You no longer have to pay older balances.
The conciliation procedure in tenancy matters is free of charge. If you get nowhere, turn to the conciliation authority, with no risk of lawyer's or court costs for the procedure.
If you have agreed a flat rate, there is no statement and no claim. The landlord may not demand more even if the actual costs were higher; he can only recalculate the flat rate after three years.
⚠️ The 5 costliest mistakes with the service charge statement
Four of these five mistakes cost you money, one costs you your good right because you let a deadline lapse that is not even running. Read them once, and you will not pay a franc too much.
Paying the balance blindly. The most common and costliest mistake. Many transfer the money without comparing the statement with the tenancy agreement and the documents. Yet many statements contain at least one item that does not belong there. First the validity check above, then pay.
Accepting costs that were not agreed. What is not expressly and separately in the tenancy agreement is included in the rent and not owed (Art. 257a CO). A blanket «incl. service charges» clause is not enough. Compare every item with your agreement.
Letting repairs and management slip through. Repairs, maintenance, property management, building insurance and mortgage interest are never chargeable. If they appear, you can have them struck out, the cost catalogue above shows what applies.
Waiving inspection of the documents. Under Art. 257b para. 2 CO you have the right to inspect the original documents. Waiving it means checking blind. Demand the documents in writing before paying any balance.
Not checking the allocation key. Whether allocation is by m², people or value quota quickly makes a few hundred francs on the heating. If the agreement states a different key from the statement, something is wrong, recalculate with the allocation-key calculator.
With service charges, it is not what the landlord writes down that decides, but what is in the tenancy agreement and what the law allows.
✅ Check the service charge statement in 5 steps
Five steps separate you from certainty that the statement is correct, and none takes longer than a coffee break. Here is how to work through it systematically.
The trick almost nobody knows: ask for the statements from previous years and compare. If an item jumps by more than 20 per cent without explanation, or a new line suddenly appears, that is your strongest argument in a dispute, because the landlord must justify every item with documents. The same care pays off with every template, for example the sublease agreement, where a forgotten sentence about the service charge share is just as costly.
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❓ Frequently asked questions about the service charge statement
The questions that buzz around every spring at billing time, answered briefly and honestly.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
In Switzerland, service charges are only owed if they are separately agreed in the tenancy agreement (Art. 257a CO). Repairs, property management, building insurance and mortgage interest are never chargeable. A claim lapses after 5 years, inspection of the documents is your right (Art. 257b para. 2 CO).
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Discussion
8 voices from the community
Genau der Check, den ich gebraucht habe. Auf meiner Abrechnung stand eine Position «Verwaltung» mit 480 Franken. Dank dem Katalog wusste ich, dass nur die NK-Verwaltung erlaubt ist, nicht die ganze Liegenschaft. Beanstandet, 400 Franken gutgeschrieben.
Stark, Andrea, genau so funktioniert es. Die Verwaltung der Liegenschaft ist im Mietzins drin, nur der kleine Aufwand für die NK-Abrechnung selbst darf rein. Schön, dass du nicht blind bezahlt hast.
Den Verteilschlüssel-Rechner habe ich dreimal gebraucht, bis ichs geglaubt habe. Bei uns wird nach Personen verteilt, nicht nach m², und ich wohne allein in einer grossen Wohnung. Macht bei der Heizung fast 300 Franken Unterschied im Jahr.
Wichtig fand ich den Hinweis mit der Einsicht in die Belege. Habe schriftlich verlangt, die Verwaltung hat zuerst gemauert, aber nach dem Hinweis auf Art. 257b war die Akte plötzlich da. Eine Position war doppelt verrechnet.
Merci fürs Teilen, Fatima. Genau, das Einsichtsrecht ist gesetzlich, da muss niemand mauern. Gut, dass du drangeblieben bist, doppelt verrechnete Posten sind häufiger als man denkt.
Als Vermieter von zwei Wohnungen rechne ich jetzt mit dem Generator ab. Sauber jede Position einzeln, Saldo automatisch, als PDF verschickt. Vorher hatte ich alles in einem Excel zusammengeschustert, das gab immer Rückfragen.
Han zersch dänkt, ich müess eifach zahle. Aber näi, churz prüeft und gmerkt: d Gebäudeversicherig het uf de Abrächnig nüt z sueche. Sehr fair erklärt, ohni Juriste-Chauderwälsch.
Merci Sandra, genau dä Punkt. D Gebäudeversicherig isch Eigentümersach und ghört nie uf d Nebenkoschte. Schön, dass es klick gmacht het.
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