German Rental Vocabulary Cheat Sheet for Tenants

Here’s a quick dictionary of the most common words you’ll see in rental ads, contracts and emails.

Anmeldung	Official registration of your address with the local authority
Hausordnung	House rules; document describing rules for noise, rubbish, cleaning, etc.
Kaltmiete	Basic rent for the flat, without service charges
Warmmiete	Rent including service charges (Kaltmiete + Nebenkosten)
Nebenkosten	Service charges (heating, water, garbage, building maintenance…)
Kaution	Rental deposit
Mietvertrag	Rental contract
Mietspiegel	Local rent index
Mieter	Tenant
Vermieter	Landlord
Untermiete / Untermieter	Subletting / subtenant
Befristet / Unbefristet	Fixed-term / open-ended (contract)
WG (Wohngemeinschaft)	Shared flat
Schufa	Common credit report in Germany
Übergabeprotokoll	Handover protocol at move-in or move-out