Change your registered address

If you move to another home in Germany, you normally need to register your new address within two weeks. People often call this Ummeldung. Some temporary stays have different rules.

In short

• For an ordinary move to another home in Germany, register with the Meldebehörde within two weeks of moving in. Section 27 has exceptions for some temporary stays. The law treats this as a new registration rather than giving the move a separate national form name.
• The same two weeks apply inside one town. People under 16 do not file for themselves; the people into whose home they move must register them. Registering the address is not a residence permit.
• Get a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung for the new dwelling within those two weeks. If you keep more than one dwelling in Germany, name every one and say which is the Hauptwohnung.
• An ordinary move into a new German dwelling uses registration of the new address. If you give up a secondary dwelling without taking a new one, notify the authority for that dwelling or for your sole or main dwelling, even if you keep your main home.
• A missing, wrong, or late registration is an administrative offence, and the fine can be up to 1,000 euros. That figure is a legal ceiling, not an amount a city must charge.

What you need to know

Section 17 of the Federal Registration Act normally requires registration with the Meldebehörde within two weeks of moving into a dwelling.

Section 27 has temporary-stay exceptions: a person already registered domestically who takes another dwelling for no more than six months normally need not register that dwelling; if still there after six months, registration is due within the following two weeks. A normally foreign-resident person not registered domestically has the three-month rule. The exceptions exclude specified groups under section 27(3), including assigned reception/accommodation cases.

The Anmeldung guide explains the scope; an ordinary permanent move still uses the two-week rule. A move from one German address to another is still a new move-in. People often call that change an Ummeldung. The Act itself treats it as registration of the dwelling you have taken.

Section 21 applies when you keep more than one dwelling in Germany. One of them is your Hauptwohnung. The general rule is the predominantly used dwelling, but section 22 adds family rules: for spouses or registered partners not permanently separated, it is the predominantly used family/partner dwelling.

For a minor, the custodians’ predominantly used dwelling applies; if they live apart, it is the custodian’s dwelling predominantly used by the child. In doubtful cases the centre of the person’s life relationships matters. Ask the Meldebehörde about an unclear family or shared-care case rather than choosing only by your own number of nights.

Every other dwelling in Germany is a Nebenwohnung. At each registration or deregistration you must say which other dwellings you have in Germany and which one is the Hauptwohnung. If the Hauptwohnung changes, you must tell the Meldebehörde responsible for the new Hauptwohnung within two weeks.

If you give up a secondary dwelling without taking a new one, section 21(4) requires you to notify either the authority for the secondary dwelling or the authority for the sole or main dwelling, even when you retain your existing main home.

People under 16 do not file for themselves. The people into whose home they move must register them. A baby born in Germany is registered only if the baby moves into a different home from the parents or the mother. Registering an address is not a residence permit. EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens and people with a residence title all use the same registration duty.

What to do

1. Ask the housing provider for a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung for the new dwelling. The Anmeldung page explains the items section 19 requires on that confirmation. The provider must hand it over inside the same two-week period.
2. Check whether a temporary-stay exception applies. For an ordinary move, register with the Meldebehörde for the new address within two weeks of moving in. If you keep the old flat as a second home, name every German dwelling and identify the Hauptwohnung using the family rules where relevant. Leaving Germany with no new home in the country requires an Abmeldung. The Abmeldung page also covers giving up a secondary dwelling without taking a new one.
3. Take the identity document the office asks for and the housing confirmation. Ask your city about any extra copies, appointments and certificate fees. A connected municipality may let you register online under section 23a, for example on the BayernPortal with a BundID or a BayernID. The two-week duty does not change, and the account is not itself the registration. That Bavarian service currently accepts German citizens, and EU citizens with an eID card, and only where the municipality is connected. Online filing with an electronic residence permit is still planned there.
4. Tell insurers, your bank, and your employer the new address yourself. The population register does not rewrite those contracts. Section 54 makes a missing, wrong, or late registration an administrative offence. The fine can be up to 1,000 euros. That figure is a legal ceiling, not an amount a city must charge.

A second home and the second-home tax

Naming a second home when you register fulfils a registration duty under section 21. It is separate from any municipal second-home tax.

Where a municipality levies the tax, it assesses the charge. Munich’s tax office, for example, says you can be liable there whether or not you registered the dwelling as a Nebenwohnung. Ask the municipality where your second home is about its rate and filing date; they can differ from another city’s.

Common mistakes

• Filing a separate Abmeldung when ordinarily moving into a new German dwelling. Section 17(2) concerns moving out without taking a new dwelling in Germany; section 21(4) separately requires notice when you give up a secondary dwelling without taking a new one.
• Keeping a second flat off the form. Section 21 requires you to name your other dwellings in Germany and to identify the Hauptwohnung.
• Copying another city’s processing time or the price of a registration certificate.