Close contracts before you leave

Before you move, check how much notice each contract needs. Deregistering your address does not cancel your lease, phone or internet service. Each has its own process and deadlines.

In short

• If you are not taking a new dwelling in Germany, file the population-register Abmeldung within two weeks of moving out, and not earlier than one week before. The register is updated as of the move-out date.
• End the lease in Schriftform (signed written form); an unsigned email is not enough. Ordinary notice must arrive by the third Werktag of a calendar month to take effect at the end of the month after next. Werktag does not simply mean Monday to Friday. For a qualifying furnished room in the landlord’s own home, notice that arrives by the 15th takes effect at the end of that month. An agreement that departs from paragraph 1 or paragraph 3 to the tenant’s disadvantage is ineffective.
• Notify the end of holding the dwelling in writing and without delay for the broadcasting contribution, with the end date and the facts section 8 asks for. Ask the body that collects the broadcasting contribution to confirm whether you are due a refund, and how much.
• For covered telecom service contracts, section 56 caps initial terms at 24 months, requires a no-more-than-12-month offer, and permits one-month notice after silent renewal. If the contracted service is not offered at the new address, section 60 gives a separate one-month moving right. Do not assume every mobile contract has an automatic early exit.
• Deregistration does not file a pension claim.

What you need to know

Section 17(2) of the Federal Registration Act says that a person who moves out of a dwelling and does not take a new dwelling in Germany must deregister with the Meldebehörde within two weeks. You can deregister no earlier than one week before moving out, and the register is updated as of the move-out date. This updates the population register; you still need to notify your landlord and the broadcasting contribution service separately.

Section 568 requires Schriftform for lease termination; do not rely on an unsigned email. Under section 573c, ordinary notice must reach the other side by the third Werktag of a month to end the tenancy at the end of the month after next. Do not assume Werktag simply means Monday to Friday. The landlord’s period grows after five and eight years; a tenant-favourable shorter period can be agreed for the tenant.

Temporary-use lets have a special rule under section 573c(2). Section 573c(3) uses a shorter clock for a qualifying room under section 549(2) number 2: the room is part of the dwelling the landlord lives in, the landlord has to furnish it predominantly, and it is not let for permanent use with the tenant’s family or with people in a lasting shared household.

Notice that reaches the other side by the 15th of a month takes effect at the end of that same month. Not every furnished flat qualifies. Ask a tenants’ adviser if the exception matters to your notice date.

Section 8(2) of the Broadcasting Contribution State Treaty says the end of holding a dwelling must be notified in writing, without delay, to the competent Landesrundfunkanstalt. That notice is the Abmeldung of the dwelling for the contribution. Section 8(5) says the notice also states the date the holding ended, the facts that justify the notice, and, where there is a new dwelling, the contribution number of the debtor used for that new dwelling.

The English page of the Beitragsservice explains the fee and says the registration office notifies the service when you register a new dwelling in Germany. Use the treaty for the notification duty and the Beitragsservice’s official process for the submission channel. Ask for confirmation rather than assuming a refund amount.

For covered consumer phone/internet service contracts, section 56 caps the initial term at 24 months and requires an offer with at most 12 months. After silent renewal beyond the initial term, you can cancel at any time on one month’s notice.

Under section 60, if the contracted service is not offered at your new address, cancellation on one month’s notice may take effect at move-out or later. Ask the provider early about availability and the evidence it needs. Moving abroad is not an automatic one-month exit from every mobile tariff. Bank and private-insurance notice conditions must be checked separately; keep enough account access for final bills.

What to do

1. Start with your move date and each contract’s deadline, often months before departure. Send your lease notice in Schriftform in time for the relevant section 573c deadline; special tenancies and tenant-favourable clauses can differ.
2. Send the telecom notice separately. State whether you rely on ordinary expiry, the one-month silent-renewal rule or an unserved new address under section 60. Include the move date/new address and requested evidence, and keep the confirmation. Check bank and insurance procedures separately.
3. Notify the end of the dwelling in writing and without delay for the broadcasting contribution, with the date and the facts section 8 asks for. This is separate from the Meldebehörde.
4. File the population-register Abmeldung no earlier than one week before moving out and within two weeks afterwards, if you are not taking another dwelling in Germany. It does not replace the earlier contract notices.

Confirm health cover and energy end dates separately

Tell your statutory health fund or private insurer about the departure before leaving and ask which evidence is required. Section 190 sets the normal end of compulsory membership when the underlying condition ends. For an employee, membership normally ends at the end of the day the paid employment ends, unless statutory continuation applies. Section 192 preserves membership in specified cases, including entitlement to or receipt of Krankengeld or Mutterschaftsgeld, receipt of Elterngeld, and parental leave; pregnancy has further protection in subsection 2.

Where compulsory cover depends on domestic residence, as it can for a student who has been exmatriculated, membership ends when that residence ends, on the terms section 190 states. That statutory end is separate from switching fund or cancelling voluntary cover under section 175. Obtain written confirmation of whether cover and contributions end or continue and on what date. Arrange destination cover without a gap. Abmeldung alone is not proof that every health-insurance obligation ended; continuing German work, pensions and cross-border social-security rules can change the result.

If you cancel statutory membership because you will not join another statutory fund, the twelve-month binding period in section 175(4) does not apply. That cancellation takes effect at the end of the month after next, counted from the month you declare it, and only if you prove other health cover within the notice period. The fund must confirm it within two weeks. Do not simply stop the direct debit. Health insurance explains continuation and income-evidence requests.

Notify the energy supplier before the move and use the Utilities guide to check the applicable notice and relocation conditions. Keep proof of notice, the confirmed old-contract end date, final meter-number/readings photos and the final bill. Give a reachable forwarding address and retain account access for final charges and refunds.

Add gyms, apps, courses and other subscriptions to your departure list, with the customer number, notice deadline, requested end date and receipt. Moving does not automatically release you from every minimum term. Use Contracts and subscriptions for cancellation steps rather than assuming the telecom moving rule applies to all services.

Common mistakes

• Sending the lease notice on the last day of the month and expecting the statutory clock to start that month. Section 573c uses the third Werktag, effective at the end of the month after next.
• Forgetting the contribution notice because you deregistered the address. Section 8 still requires a written notice without delay.
• Assuming a forum’s mobile-phone cancellation rule applies to your minimum term. Distinguish initial expiry, silent renewal and the conditional relocation right, and ask the regulator if the provider disputes the applicable right.