You have found your apartment or property. The move is complete, your mail has been forwarded, and most of the remaining paperwork has been taken care of. Now you would like to register or re-register with the municipality at your new address. But have you thought of the landlord’s certificate?
This document is also called the confirmation from the housing provider or landlord’s confirmation and is required after a change of residence. You are obliged to submit it to the responsible authority within a maximum of two weeks after the official move-in date. Depending on the municipality, this may be the Residents’ Registration Office or Citizens’ Office, for example. The aim is to be able to better track changes of residence by people living in Germany.
Important: This certificate is indispensable for registering or re-registering your new place of residence!
Legal Basis and Purpose of the Landlord’s Certificate
Since November 2015, the Federal Registration Act (BMG) has contained a provision. Among other things, the law regulates the deregistration, re-registration and registration of persons with the local municipality after they have moved into a new apartment.
In Section 19 BMG, the legislature places the landlord or housing provider under an obligation. It states:
The housing provider is obliged to cooperate in the registration process. For this purpose, the housing provider or a person commissioned by them must confirm the move-in of the person subject to the registration requirement in writing or to the registration authority […].
This means: The landlord must hand the tenant a signed document showing that they have moved into the new apartment. Alternatively, the property owner or landlord can submit this confirmation themselves.
This obligation had not existed for several years beforehand. However, the legislature saw the need to reintroduce the duty to cooperate in order to prevent sham registrations. Criminals exploited this loophole to provide false information about their address and thus evade criminal prosecution. Forged rental agreements served, among other things, as a basis. In some cases, this even led to criminals obtaining an identity card with a false address from the authorities. Other cases of misuse included credit card fraud or obtaining school places for their own children outside the actual school district.
Through the now again the landlord’s required written confirmation confirms that a third party has moved into the apartment and thus changed their address. This process makes it more difficult to fake addresses.
Landlords have the right and the obligation to provide information
To protect themselves against possible misuse, landlords are entitled to obtain information. They can inquire with the residents’ registration office at any time as to whether former or new tenants have properly reported their change of residence. The residents’ registration office, for its part, has the right to contact landlords. Landlords must provide the authority with information about all persons living in the rented property.
What information is included in a landlord’s confirmation?
If you are moving or renting out an apartment, you should familiarize yourself with the essential contents of the landlord’s confirmation. Although there are no official forms or formal requirements for the document’s format, its contents are defined in the statutory text (§ 19 (3) BMG):
- Name and address of the landlord;
- Name and address of the apartment owner, if this is not the landlord;
- Move-in date;
- Address of the apartment;
- Names of the persons required to register.
The completed document must also be signed by the landlord. In addition to these legally prescribed details, some documents contain further information. A common addition concerns the precise designation of the apartment (e.g.: 2nd floor, left), if it is a larger apartment building. However, only the details listed above are required.
Tip: Observe data protection!
Both parties should limit themselves to the prescribed content. The principle of data minimization applies!
- For landlords: Any personal information about tenants beyond the requirements may conflict with data protection regulations.
- For tenants: They may insist that unnecessary details be removed or refuse to provide additional personal information. However, this may lead to a potential dispute with the landlord very soon after moving in.
Who is a person required to register?
The confirmation must include the names of all persons moving into the apartment. This also includes partners and children as well as other persons living in the apartment.
Who submits the confirmation to the residents’ registration office?
As a rule, the landlord hands the written Certificate. The tenant submits it to the registration authority when registering or changing their registration. In some municipalities, the tenant may also authorize another person to handle the registration or change of registration. Details should be obtained from the responsible residents’ registration office.
Alternatively, the landlord can report the names in writing or electronically. In this case, they receive a so-called allocation identifier (“file number”). This must be communicated to the tenant so that they can state it when registering or changing their registration.
By when must the landlord’s confirmation be available?
The Federal Registration Act sets a deadline of two weeks for registration or changing registration. You must submit or subsequently provide the landlord’s certificate within this period. The municipality may impose a fine in the event of delays.
Practical tip: Handing over the document
The two-week deadline after moving in can be very tight due to the many tasks and obligations arising after a move. The landlord should therefore hand the document to the tenant when handing over the property or transmit it to the authorities.
Important: If you are a landlord and do not transmit the document yourself, you must hand it to the tenant no later than 14 days after move-in. This is the only way the tenant can comply with the statutory deadline!
Landlord’s confirmation: Are there exceptions?
In principle, a landlord’s confirmation is required for every change of residence. There are two exceptions.
- A landlord’s certificate is not required if you move into a nursing home, participate in a witness protection program, or move into specially protected accommodation (for example, a women’s shelter).
- If you deregister from your previous place of residence and move abroad, you must likewise submit a landlord’s certificate to the residents’ registration office. In this case, however, the landlord confirms the move-out. This confirmation is helpful, among other things, for ruling out a move abroad that was only feigned for tax purposes.
What applies when moving into your own property?
Another minor exception applies if you move into your own apartment or house. Even then, submitting a landlord’s certificate is required. However, in this case you simply issue the document yourself with the relevant details.
Important: If you move out of your own property, you must also confirm this change to the responsible authority!
Special case: What applies to subletting?
A special rule applies to subletting. In this case, the tenant may issue the certificate for the subtenant. However, the name and address of the property owner must still be stated in the landlord’s confirmation as usual.
Severe penalties for failures to comply
Submitting the landlord’s confirmation is a statutory obligation. If you do not submit the correctly completed document within the 14-day period, fines of up to 1,000 euros may be imposed.
Potential penalties are even more severe if, as a tenant or landlord, you submit a forged document or help to fake a residence. In such cases, the fine increases to up to 50,000 euros.