Tenant basics

Renting a home comes with questions about deposits, bills, repairs and notice. This guide explains your rights and offers practical steps for disputes, rent increases, subletting and urgent threats to your home.

In short

• A cash deposit is capped at three months’ rent without operating costs, and you can pay it in three equal monthly parts. The interest is yours, although a student or youth residence does not have to pay interest.
• If you pay operating costs in advance, your landlord must send the annual statement by the end of the twelfth month after the accounting period. You have twelve months after receiving it to object.
• For an open-ended tenancy, notice takes effect at the end of the month after next only if it arrives by the third Werktag of a month. Saturday counts as a Werktag. If that third day is a Saturday, it is unsettled whether section 193 extends the deadline, so deliver earlier. Notice on the fourth Werktag does not catch the end of the month after next.
• Your landlord’s notice period gets longer after five years and again after eight years. Your own notice period does not increase in the same way.
• Report defects promptly and keep evidence. Seek advice before deciding a deduction, agreeing a rent increase or responding to a landlord’s termination notice.
• A tenant can agree a shorter period for their own notice; shortening the landlord’s period to the tenant’s disadvantage is ineffective. Temporary-use lets and qualifying furnished rooms in the landlord’s own home have special rules. Read a fixed term, and the reason written next to it, before you sign.

What you need to know

This guide concerns residential tenancies. The Civil Code provides national protections, but the applicable rules depend on the tenancy type; temporary-use lets, qualifying furnished rooms in the landlord’s home, student or youth residences and price-bound housing can have different rules. Local rent regulations also matter.

Read the contract you are offered and check the scope of each protection before applying it. Some sections of the law say a lease cannot leave the tenant worse off than the law does. Where a section says this, a lease term that does so has no effect.

Kaltmiete is the basic rent. Warmmiete includes Nebenkosten, or operating costs. Section 2 of the Operating Costs Ordinance lists costs that can be charged this way, including water, heating, waste disposal and a caretaker. Your contract sets out which costs you actually pay. Electricity and gas often require a separate supplier contract, though some rental contracts include gas in operating costs. Ask what applies to your home.

What to check first

1. If your landlord takes a cash deposit, section 551 caps it at three months’ rent without operating costs charged as a lump sum or advance. You can pay in three equal monthly parts: the first when the tenancy starts, and the next two with the following rent payments. The landlord must keep a cash deposit separate from their own assets, at the usual three-month savings rate unless you agree on another form. The interest belongs to you and increases the security. A student or youth residence does not have to pay interest. An agreement that disadvantages you on these points is invalid.
2. If you pay operating costs in advance, section 556 requires an annual statement by the end of the twelfth month after the accounting period. A late extra demand is barred unless the landlord is not responsible for the delay. You have twelve months from receiving the statement to raise objections, with the same exception if a delay is not your fault. You can inspect the supporting records; the landlord may provide them electronically. The advance itself must be reasonable.
3. For an open-ended tenancy, section 573c normally makes notice effective at the end of the month after next if the other party receives it by the third Werktag of the month. Saturday counts. If the third Werktag is a Saturday, the Federal Court of Justice has left open whether section 193 extends the deadline, so deliver it earlier. This is the basis of the usual “three-month” notice. The landlord’s period grows by three months after five years, and by another three months after eight years, counted from when the home was handed over. Outside the statutory exceptions, a tenant can agree a shorter period for their own notice, while a shorter period for the landlord that disadvantages the tenant is ineffective. Temporary-use lets and qualifying furnished rooms in the landlord’s own home have separate rules. Give notice in writing and keep proof of delivery.
4. For a residential fixed term under Civil Code section 575, the landlord must give the qualifying reason in writing when the contract is made. The grounds cover later housing for the landlord, family or household members; lawful demolition or substantial alteration/repair that continuing the tenancy would significantly obstruct; or housing for a person obliged to provide services. Ordinary decoration is not enough. Without a qualifying reason communicated in writing, the tenancy is ordinarily indefinite. A minimum period excluding ordinary termination is a different clause: have it checked before signing.
5. A handover record, an Übergabeprotokoll, is not required by the Civil Code. The Federal Ministry of Justice’s tenancy guide says that if you make one, list the defects already present, so they are not later treated as damage you caused. Add the meter readings and photos. The same guide says a structural change needs the landlord’s permission. Section 554 gives you a right to that permission for specified accessibility, vehicle-charging, burglary-protection, and plug-in solar work, unless the change is unreasonable for the landlord even after your interests are weighed.

Repairs, mould and heating failures

Under section 535, the landlord must keep the home suitable for the agreed use. Report a leak, mould, failed heating or another defect promptly to the landlord or authorised management. Describe where it is, how serious it is and when it started. Keep dated photos, messages and proof of delivery; for a heating failure, record room temperatures and times. Ask for repairs, arrange access for necessary work and keep a record of what happens. The appropriate response time depends on urgency; there is no single repair deadline for every defect.

Section 536 provides an appropriate rent reduction for a material loss of use, and relief from rent where the home cannot be used at all. A minor impairment does not qualify. The cause, duration and extent matter: a mould report alone does not establish who caused it or the correct reduction. Special limits include defects already known when contracting or accepted without reserving rights under section 536b, and the first three months of impairment caused by qualifying energy modernisation under section 536(1a). Failure to notify can also limit remedies under section 536c.

Get tenancy advice promptly before deciding how much to deduct. An online percentage may not fit your situation, and deducting too much can create rent arrears. Under section 536a(2), you can have work done yourself and charge the landlord if the landlord is in default with the repair, or if immediate work is necessary to preserve or restore the property. A complaint alone does not authorise every contractor bill. For an acute hazard, take appropriate safety steps and contact the relevant emergency service; keep evidence of the urgency.

Handover and disputed deposit deductions

At move-in and move-out, record the condition of the rooms, existing damage, meter readings and keys returned. Keep photos and a copy of the handover record. You do not have to sign a disputed admission of damage or promise to pay or renovate just to obtain the keys or finish the handover.

Normal wear from contractual use is not damage under section 538. Whether a cosmetic-repair clause is enforceable depends on its wording and the flat’s original condition. Have disputed painting or replacement charges checked before paying: not every move requires repainting, but not every repair claim is invalid. Ask for an itemised deposit settlement and challenge disputed deductions in writing. A tenants’ association or legal adviser can help.

Check the operating-cost statement

Check the accounting period, your occupancy dates, allocation method, actual costs and advance payments. Section 556(4) gives you access to the supporting records; the landlord may provide them electronically. Building administration, maintenance and repair costs are not operating costs under section 1 of the Operating Costs Ordinance. A caretaker invoice can include different tasks, so ask which recoverable work the charge covers. A separate, valid claim for damage is a different issue.

For advance payments, the landlord’s usual twelve-month billing deadline runs from the end of the accounting period; your twelve-month objection period runs from receipt of the statement. Each has its own no-fault exception. These rules do not mean that a late bill automatically removes a tenant’s credit. A contractual lump sum is different from an advance that must be reconciled. For shared heating, consumption allocation, carbon costs and remote-reading information, follow Utilities. A billing complaint does not make every rent or service-charge payment optional; get advice on disputed amounts.

A rent-increase letter

First check what kind of increase your landlord is proposing: an ordinary increase towards the local comparison rent under section 558, an agreed step or index clause, a modernisation increase, or an operating-cost adjustment. Each has different conditions and dates. The comparison-rent limits below do not apply to every type.

For section 558, the rent must normally have been unchanged for fifteen months when the increase takes effect, and the request may be made no earlier than one year after the previous rent increase; increases under sections 559–560 are disregarded for these timing rules. The requested rent cannot exceed the local comparison rent. The three-year cap is normally 20%, reduced to 15% in areas designated by a valid Land regulation; increases under sections 559–560 are also excluded from that cap. Check the rule for the actual address and period, not a percentage quoted for another city.

A modernisation increase under section 559 is a separate route. The landlord may raise the annual rent by up to 8 percent of the qualifying modernisation costs for the home, after deducting the costs that maintenance would have required. Within six years, apart from increases under sections 558 and 560, the monthly rent may not rise by more than 3 euros per square metre of living space on this route, or by more than 2 euros per square metre if the monthly rent before the increase is below 7 euros per square metre. Where the work installs a heating system and also meets the energy-saving conditions in section 559(3a), that part of the increase is limited to 0.50 euros per square metre within six years, and the 3 euro and 2 euro limits still apply.

The request must be in text form and give a justification under section 558a, for example a rent index or suitable comparable homes. For this consent procedure, you have until the end of the second calendar month after receipt to consider consent. Insofar as you consent, the higher rent is payable from the start of the third calendar month after receipt. If you do not consent, the landlord can seek consent in court within the following three months. Have the amount and formal requirements checked before agreeing, paying or ignoring the letter. Other increase routes do not all require this consent procedure.

Step, index or modernisation: check the correct calculation

Staffelmiete: read the written agreement and the dates/amounts of each step. Section 557a requires the rent or each increase to be stated as a money amount and each level to remain unchanged for at least one year. A valid agreed step is not a new section 558 consent request. During the stepped-rent term, increases under sections 558–559b are excluded. The rent-brake rules apply to each step within their legal scope, assessed when that step first falls due. Ask for advice if a step is unclear or appears excessive; do not assume a percentage-only clause or the comparison-rent cap answers the question.

Indexmiete: check that a written clause uses the consumer price index determined by the Statistisches Bundesamt for all private households in Germany. Compare the relevant index values, calculation, previous change and the landlord’s text-form declaration. It must state the index change and the new rent or increase as a money amount. The changed rent is payable from the beginning of the second month following receipt, not immediately. Index rent generally remains unchanged for at least one year, apart from the statutory modernisation/operating-cost exceptions. Section 558 comparison increases are excluded; modernisation is restricted, with a separate qualifying heating-installation exception. The rent brake applies to the initial index rent, not each later index adjustment. Get the actual clause/calculation checked before changing payment.

Modernisierung: distinguish the advance works announcement from the later rent-increase declaration. An ordinary section 559 increase uses 8% of eligible costs as an annual increase, not 8% of the existing monthly rent. Necessary maintenance costs must be excluded, relevant public/third-party funding accounted for and shared works allocated appropriately. Statutory per-square-metre caps and hardship rules also matter. A simplified procedure under section 559c and a qualifying heating route under section 559e have different calculations; a heating letter is not automatically an ordinary 8% case.

Keep the announcement, receipt dates, work description, cost breakdown, funding details and final calculation. Section 559b requires a text-form declaration explaining the calculation; the ordinary increase starts at the beginning of the third month after receipt, with an extra six-month delay in specified announcement/overrun cases. Have the route and dates checked rather than borrowing the section 558 consent timetable. Hardship circumstances normally must be communicated in text form by the end of the month following receipt of a compliant modernisation announcement; the statute has notice/no-fault exceptions. Seek advice when the announcement arrives, not only when the final bill comes. A legal-aid appointment does not itself preserve that deadline.

Mietpreisbremse at the start of a tenancy

The rent brake applies only where a valid Land regulation designates a tight housing market, and only within its legal scope. The starting rent is normally limited to 10% above the local comparison rent. A qualifying higher previous rent or recent modernisation can change the calculation; new-build and comprehensive-modernisation exceptions also need checking. Furnishing a home does not by itself answer whether an exception applies. Ask for the facts and any exception information that the landlord must provide under section 556g. A Land ordinance under this authority must end by 31 December 2029 at the latest. The amending law has been in force since 23 July 2025.

If you suspect an excessive rent, seek advice about a specific rent-brake complaint, a Rüge, to the landlord in text form, retaining proof of receipt. Where the landlord gave information about an exception, the complaint must address it. A general expression of dissatisfaction is not a substitute. For tenancies arising from 1 April 2020, a complaint received within thirty months of the start while the tenancy continues can preserve recovery of earlier overpayments, subject to the other conditions. If it arrives after thirty months or after the tenancy has ended, only overpayments falling due after receipt can be recovered under this rule. Older tenancies follow the earlier rule. Do not assume the rent is unlawful nationwide, that a refund is automatic, or that every past payment can be recovered.

Subletting, visitors and landlord entry

Ordinary short visits are different from handing use of the home to another person. For a sublet, seek permission before the person moves in. Under section 553, a legitimate interest arising after the contract can give you a right to permission to let part of the home. The landlord can refuse for an important reason concerning the proposed person, overcrowding or other unreasonableness. Where permission is only reasonable with an appropriate rent increase, it can be conditional on agreeing that increase. This is not an automatic right to let the whole flat or offer tourist accommodation. Keep the request and response; seek advice if permission is refused rather than moving someone in against the refusal. The statutory partial-subletting test is not a fixed six-week visitor clock. Check any separate local occupancy or registration rules for the actual arrangement.

The landlord has no general right to enter whenever they wish or to carry out periodic inspections without a particular reason. The Federal Court of Justice requires a concrete, objective reason and appropriate prior notice for an access duty; a blanket inspection clause does not create an unrestricted right. Arrange access for justified purposes such as necessary repair, and agree the purpose and appointment. An acute emergency is different. If entry is disputed, document the request and get advice; do not treat privacy as a reason to refuse all necessary repair access.

Giving notice yourself

To give residential notice, section 568 requires statutory written form (Schriftform). The usual practical route is a paper letter signed by the tenant or tenants, with proof that it was received. An ordinary email, scan or chat message does not meet the requirement. The legally qualified electronic form under sections 126 and 126a is different from an ordinary digital signature.

Where several people are tenants, the notice must come from all of them or a properly authorised representative, and reach all landlords or their authorised recipient. One joint tenant moving out does not by itself release that person from the contract. Check the parties, signature or authority, end date and receipt deadline. Fixed terms, minimum termination exclusions and special lets need separate checking. See Closing contracts for coordinating a move; address deregistration does not send lease notice.

Landlord notice, Eigenbedarf and hardship

For ordinary residential termination under section 573, your landlord generally needs a legitimate interest and must explain the grounds in the notice. A genuine need for the home for the landlord, family or household members (Eigenbedarf) can qualify. Ending the lease simply to charge more rent is not a permitted ground. There are exceptions: section 573a can allow termination without that interest in a building the landlord occupies with no more than two flats, with an extra three months’ notice. Section 549 excludes specified special lets from some protections. Have your notice and tenancy type checked promptly.

Even where ordinary notice is justified, section 574 can support a request to continue the tenancy if ending it would cause unjustifiable hardship to you, your family or another household member after weighing the landlord’s interests. Inability to obtain suitable replacement housing on reasonable terms can count. Collect evidence, including a documented housing search and relevant personal circumstances. This is an individual assessment, not an automatic extension. It does not apply where a ground entitling the landlord to immediate termination exists.

The hardship objection under section 574b must be in text form, Textform, and normally reach the landlord at least two months before the tenancy ends. Unlike a termination notice, this objection does not require a handwritten signature. If the landlord did not give timely information about the possibility, form and deadline of objection, it can still be raised at the first hearing of an eviction case. Do not wait for court or rely on this exception without advice; keep proof of when the objection arrived.

Rent arrears or eviction papers: act immediately

If you risk losing your home, contact a tenants’ adviser or lawyer and your municipality’s homelessness-prevention service as soon as possible. Ask about help with arrears and take your lease, rent account, notices and court papers. Wohngeld and Debt collection explain related support and debt procedures. A pending application does not guarantee that rent will be paid or a court deadline extended.

Sections 543 and 569 allow immediate termination for serious rent arrears without the usual prior warning. The statutory grounds include arrears on two consecutive due dates where the unpaid part exceeds one month’s rent, or arrears reaching two months’ rent over a longer period. A cash-deposit arrear reaching two net cold monthly rents is a separate immediate-termination ground. These are danger thresholds, not permission to skip smaller payments; an ordinary breach notice can also matter.

For qualifying rent-arrears cases, section 569(3)(2) can remove immediate termination if the landlord is fully paid the due rent and use compensation, or a public body commits to pay, by the end of two months after the eviction claim becomes legally pending, normally on service of the claim. This is not two months from the landlord’s first letter. The cure is unavailable if a termination was already cured this way within the previous two years. It does not automatically remove an ordinary termination issued alongside it for the same breach, as the Federal Court of Justice confirmed in VIII ZR 106/23. Get advice immediately about both notices and the exact deadline.

A notice alone does not allow your landlord to enforce an eviction by changing the locks. Compulsory eviction requires an enforceable title and the bailiff’s procedure under section 885 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Court papers still need an urgent response within the deadline given in your case. An eviction claim is different from a Mahnbescheid payment order: the payment-order objection described in Debt collection is not a response to every court letter. Ask promptly about your defence and any eviction period or enforcement protection available to you.

Where to get help

Look for a local tenants’ association, a tenancy lawyer or municipal tenant advice. Check costs, membership conditions and whether court representation is included. As a local example, Berlin’s boroughs offer residents free tenant advice but exclude court representation; use the official borough list for appointments. Services and housing-inspection powers differ by location. Ask the responsible municipality which office can deal with a serious unresolved housing defect or threatened homelessness.

For help with legal costs, the official Justiz-Services portal explains the conditions for out-of-court Beratungshilfe and the separate court process-cost aid. Hamburg and Bremen use public legal advice instead of Beratungshilfe. Check eligibility and remaining costs rather than assuming every case is free. Bringing documents to an adviser does not itself stop a notice or court deadline.

Cable TV on the service-charge bill

Since 1 July 2024, monthly TV/broadband connection service fees cannot simply be passed through rental operating costs. Check whether you actually made a separate service agreement before paying twice for television. Some shared antenna/distribution operating costs and qualifying fibre provision charges can still be recoverable; a line mentioning cable or fibre is not automatically unlawful. Ask for the basis and receipts for the charge. These service charges are separate from the broadcasting contribution, Rundfunkbeitrag.

Common mistakes

• Counting calendar months loosely, or skipping Saturday, and missing the third Werktag. Saturday counts. If the third Werktag is a Saturday, do not rely on an extension to the next working day: whether section 193 applies is unsettled, so deliver earlier. Put the end date in the notice, and keep evidence of receipt.
• Treating a rent-increase letter, a hardship objection and lease termination as the same procedure. They have different forms, deadlines and legal tests.
• Reducing or stopping rent using a percentage found online without checking the defect, evidence and consequences for arrears.
• Ignoring an annual statement or a court letter while waiting for a landlord, adviser or benefit office to reply.
• Treating a landlord’s notice as an instruction to leave immediately, or assuming paying arrears automatically defeats every notice.