Rental management in the Rhine-Main region

Every payment is matched to a tenant, an apartment and a month. Our property accounting team reconciles incoming payments against the rent roll, separating net rent from advance payments for service charges and heating. The team is led by Ralf Hennig, a business economist specialising in accounting with more than thirty years in property accounting. Because accounting and property managers work side by side, a missed payment is noticed within the month, not at year end.

When a rent payment is missing, we contact the tenant promptly and find out why. If arrears persist, we send formal reminders, agree instalment plans if you wish, and document every step. Once arrears reach the threshold for termination without notice under § 543 of the German Civil Code (BGB), we discuss the next steps with you and work with specialist tenancy lawyers on termination and eviction. The decision is always yours.

Deposits are held separately from your own assets, as § 551 BGB requires. When a tenancy ends, we settle the deposit against outstanding rent, service charge balances and documented damage.

You receive a property statement of all income and expenditure, monthly or quarterly as you prefer, plus a year-end summary your tax adviser can use directly for your rental income return. Receipts, bank statements and open requests are available in the owner portal. Owners of several buildings also receive a portfolio report that compares rents, arrears, vacancies and maintenance costs across properties.

For private landlords, management fees are deductible as income-related expenses against rental income. They cannot be passed on to tenants, as the German Operating Costs Ordinance excludes management costs. We agree a fixed fee per unit per month, and any additional services, such as re-letting, are listed in writing in our proposal.

Only costs listed in the Operating Costs Ordinance and validly agreed in the lease can be recharged to tenants: property tax, water and sewage, heating and hot water, lifts, refuse collection, cleaning, gardening, communal electricity, chimney sweeping, building insurance and caretaking, among others. Management, maintenance and repair costs are not recoverable. When we take over, we check each lease to see which cost types have actually been agreed.

Under § 556(3) BGB, the statement must reach the tenant no later than twelve months after the end of the billing period. If it arrives later, the landlord generally loses any claim to a balancing payment, while any credit due to the tenant must still be paid. We therefore plan backwards from that deadline and collect invoices, metering data and the property tax assessment throughout the year.

Heating and hot water are governed by the Heating Costs Ordinance. Between 50 and 70 per cent of the costs are allocated by consumption and the rest by floor area. Since 2023, carbon costs have also been split between landlord and tenant under a tiered model based on the building's emissions per square metre. We reconcile the figures with the metering company and check its heating statement before it goes into the overall statement.

If the result shows a significant difference, we adjust the monthly advance payments so tenants do not face a large balancing payment the following year. Tenants may inspect the receipts, and we answer their questions directly.

Your tenants have dedicated contacts at Verto. They can reach us by phone during office hours, by email and through the portal, and we reply within 24 hours. For burst pipes, heating failures and other emergencies, there is an emergency number staffed around the clock. Every request is logged with a date, owner and outcome, so you can see in the portal what has been reported and what has been resolved.

When a tenant gives notice, we start re-letting during the notice period. We arrange viewings with the outgoing tenant, assess the condition of the apartment and advise whether to refurbish before re-letting. We then prepare the listing, including the mandatory energy performance certificate details, and conduct the viewings.

We ask for proof of income, obtain a credit report such as SCHUFA with the applicant's consent, and request confirmation from the previous landlord. Personal data is requested in stages, as German data protection authorities recommend. We present suitable applicants with our assessment, and you decide. Leases are drafted in line with current case law, and every move-in and move-out is recorded in a signed handover report with meter readings, keys and photos. Re-letting is agreed as a separate service and listed in the proposal.

Where rents have not been reviewed for years, they are often below the local comparative rent. For many apartment buildings, this is the main lever for returns. We review every apartment once a year and present our recommendation. Whether and when to increase is your decision.

Most increases are based on § 558 BGB. A landlord may request consent to an increase up to the local comparative rent if the rent has been unchanged for 15 months. Within three years, rent may rise by no more than 20 per cent, or 15 per cent in municipalities designated by state ordinance as tight housing markets. Which ordinances apply changes over time, so we check the current position for each property before every request. Our rent increase check tool is available in German.

The request must be made in text form and justified by a rent index, a rent database, an expert opinion or three comparable apartments. The tenant has until the end of the second calendar month after receipt to consent, and the new rent applies from the third month. After a modernisation, § 559 BGB allows 8 per cent of the costs to be added to the annual rent, capped at 3 euros per square metre within six years. Index-linked and stepped rents follow their own rules, and we track the adjustment dates for every apartment.

Our technical property management is led by Benjamin Böcker, Head of Technical Property Management. He was previously area head for the technical and commercial operation of the three ECB towers in Frankfurt, around 300,000 square metres, and before that technical head of the four DZ BANK towers. He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture and is a certified real estate specialist (IHK).

We inspect each building regularly and record its condition with photos. Maintenance contracts for heating, lifts, fire safety and smoke alarms are reviewed for scope, intervals and price. For repairs, we work with established contractors for each trade. For orders of 1,000 euros or more we obtain at least two quotes, present them with our assessment, then supervise the work, sign it off and check the invoice against the quote.

We also plan maintenance over several years and document costs so that the distinction between repair expenses, which are deductible immediately, and modernisation, which can support a rent increase, remains clear for you and your tax adviser.

We keep a compliance calendar for every property. In Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, bedrooms, children's rooms and hallways leading to living spaces must be fitted with smoke alarms. Buildings with large hot water systems must be tested for legionella every three years where water is dispersed through showers. Lead pipes had to be removed or decommissioned by 12 January 2026.

Under the Heating Costs Ordinance, heat and hot water meters must be remotely readable by 31 December 2026, and tenants with such devices are entitled to monthly consumption information. When re-letting, the energy performance certificate must be presented at the viewing at the latest. Requirements for heating replacement are currently being revised, so we advise on the rules that apply at the time of the work.

We start with a free initial meeting, ideally including a visit to the building, and review the rent roll, leases, the latest service charge statement and the building's condition. You then receive a written proposal with a fixed fee per unit per month and a list of additional services.

On the agreed handover date, we reconcile accounts, check every deposit and work through outstanding balances. Tenants receive a letter with their new contacts, the emergency number and payment details. Existing leases continue unchanged. Within the first weeks, we review rents against the local rent index, open statements and upcoming deadlines, and summarise the findings in a takeover report with a plan for the first year.

Frankfurt's rental stock ranges from late nineteenth-century buildings in Nordend, Bornheim, Sachsenhausen and Bockenheim to post-war reconstruction and new developments, each with its own technical issues. Frankfurt, Offenbach, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden and other cities publish their own rent indices, and we work with the one that applies to each property.

The region crosses state borders. Mainz is in Rhineland-Palatinate and Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, so building regulations and rent ordinances differ from Hesse. Our rental management mandates include a 30-unit building near Frankfurt's main station, 42 apartments across several buildings in Rüsselsheim, 14 new-build apartments in Bad Homburg and a 14-unit building in Mainz.