Recoverable charges: what a landlord can pass on to a tenant

A landlord receives a condo charge statement. Only part of it can be passed on — and the mistake surfaces at the annual adjustment.

In a condo building a landlord wears two hats. Towards the association they pay every charge called for their unit. Towards their tenant they can pass on only part of it: the recoverable charges.

Confusing the two is a leading cause of dispute when a tenant leaves. It nearly always comes from the same place: the manager’s statement is not built to separate recoverable from non-recoverable.

The principle: a closed list

What a landlord may recover from a tenant appears on a closed regulatory list. Anything not on it cannot be recovered, even if the spending concerns the dwelling, and even if the lease says otherwise.

The underlying logic is constant: what relates to daily use and services to the occupant is recoverable; what relates to ownership, improvement or major maintenance stays with the landlord.

The typical split, heading by heading

• Lift: electricity and routine maintenance are recoverable; replacement or modernisation are not.
• Collective heating and hot water: consumption and routine maintenance are recoverable; replacing the boiler is not.
• Cleaning of common areas and cleaning products: recoverable.
• Gardens: routine upkeep is recoverable; replanting or landscaping is not.
• Caretaker: part of the cost is recoverable, depending on the duties actually performed.
• Household waste collection tax: recoverable, unlike property tax.
• Management fees, works fund, façade renovation, building insurance: not recoverable.

These rules evolve and carry nuances, especially on the caretaker: check the applicable text or have a specific case confirmed rather than reasoning by analogy.

Why the manager’s statement is not enough

The statement follows condo logic: general charges, special charges, allocation keys. It does not say what is recoverable. A landlord copying the "running charges" line into their adjustment is almost certainly wrong.

The right method is to work through the ledger line by line, marking each one. Exactly the work described in checking the accounts and understanding how charges are calculated and split.

Provisions and adjustment

Tenants pay monthly provisions, adjusted once a year against actual spending. The landlord must be able to justify the statement and keep the supporting documents available for a set period.

Two habits prevent most disputes: adjust the provisions when they drift lastingly from reality, and settle every year rather than letting it run. An adjustment covering three years at once always ends in conflict.

Where the board fits in

The board does not arbitrate between a landlord and a tenant: that is not its business. But the quality of the association’s accounts directly determines whether landlords can produce accurate statements.

Asking the manager for a readable presentation of charges by nature, rather than one undifferentiated total, therefore serves everyone. It is also how drift gets spotted: see the pre-meeting checklist.

The "running charges" line on the manager’s statement is not the "recoverable charges" line of the lease: confusing them costs a dispute at every tenant departure.

Readable accounts with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony lets the board track spending heading by heading, keep invoices and retrieve the history from one year to the next. Create your free space.