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.

German Rental Vocabulary Cheat Sheet

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

Mietpreisbremse — Rent brake, a form of rent control in some areas

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

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