12 Mistakes Foreigners Make While Living in a Rented Property in Germany

Avoid these common mistakes to improve your living experience in Germany.

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Every country has a different culture, beliefs, and way of living. Germany is no different. Hence, knowing how the Germans live can make your journey to settle in Germany much easier.

Here are the common mistakes Expats make:

#1 Not ventilating the property

German winters can be freezing. Hence, Germans construct their houses to be energy efficient in winter.

That means the doors and windows in German houses are airtight and do not allow cold air to enter. Thus, you must open the house’s windows daily to ventilate it.

If you do not do it daily, it will result in many problems, such as fungus growth, bad smell, food smell, etc.

Expats, especially from warm countries like India, fail to ventilate their houses daily during winter. This leads to the problems mentioned above.

Thus, do not make this mistake and open all windows daily for at least 15 minutes.

#2 Not taking a good private liability insurance

I cannot stress the importance of taking good private liability insurance (Haftpflichtversicherung). It can save you from paying thousands to millions of euros.

Personal liability insurance covers the cost of damages you caused to the third party.

Suppose you bump into someone and injure them. The damage cost could be a few thousand to millions of euros, depending on the injury. This is when personal liability insurance steps in and covers the cost.

Good liability insurance even covers the lawyer’s fees if someone wrongfully claims damages against you. It’s very common for landlords in Germany to claim damages from the tenants wrongly.

Almost every local in Germany has personal liability insurance.

Unfortunately, many expats don’t have it. When the damage occurs, they find themselves in a corner.

#3 Drying clothes inside the house

Drying clothes during winter can be a challenge. Many Expats solve this by drying clothes on the heaters inside the house. However, it’s not a good practice and can give birth to fungus (Schimmel in German) in the house.

Thus, instead of drying clothes inside the house, use the common areas designated for drying clothes or on your balcony, or buy a dryer*.

If that’s not an option, you can dry clothes in your bathroom while keeping the window open.

#4 Raising the room temperature to too high

Locals recommend setting the thermostat at room temperature (i.e., between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius). If you make it too hot, you risk damaging the house’s wallpaper.

The reason is that the adhesive used to paste the wallpapers can dry out at high temperatures. This may lead to the curling of the wallpaper.

On top of it, you will have a big fat heating bill at the end of the year.

#5 Keeping windows open while the heater is on

Many expats switch on the heating and open the windows. Do not practice this habit. It has several disadvantages.

• It’s expensive
• It’s non-eco-friendly.
• Germans don’t like it and may point out to stop this practice.

#6 Not taking care of the property

Many locals do not prefer to rent their properties to foreigners. Cultural biases play a major role. However, there are other reasons also, such as

• Expats are unaware of German laws, so they usually make mistakes unknowingly. Landlords choose the easy way out and rent their properties to locals. So, educate yourself about the dos and don’ts of living in a rented property.
• Many expats don’t care for the property like German tenants do. In some countries, it’s the norm that tenants pay the landlord for the damages instead of fixing them themselves. However, that’s not the case in Germany. German landlords expect you to hand over the property in the state you received it.

#7 Either not aware of or do not take the House Rules seriously

Germany is a land of rules and regulations. Everyone here is aware of the rules and rights and follows them religiously. The same goes for the House Rules.

As a tenant, it’s your responsibility to read the house rules and follow them. If you don’t, you may do something that violates the rules.

If that happens, it may annoy your neighbors and get you kicked out of the property in the worst-case scenario.

#8 Do not separate the garbage properly

Germans take pride in separating the garbage appropriately. And they expect the same from others.

So if you do not practice it, your neighbors will not be happy with you.

Moreover, if the garbage is not separated, everyone living in the building may end up paying a fine. So, separate paper, plastic, bio, glass, and oil properly.

#9 Do not keep the common areas clean

Everyone expects you to keep the common areas clean if you live in an apartment or shared accommodation.

For example, during the delivery of your goods, the stairs of your property building got dirty. Then your neighbors expect you to clean it afterward. Irrespective of whether the property has a house cleaning service or not.

#10 Why do I have to pay the ARD radio tax?

I do not have a radio, nor do I listen to it, so why do I have to pay a radio tax? I know every foreigner asks this question at least once.

The reason is to keep the media independent of politics and advertisements.

Germany’s experience during WWII influenced many processes and things Germans do. For example, they believe WWII was possible because of controlled media.

As the government controlled the media, they were able to broadcast biased information.

Hence, to avoid repeating the same mistakes, Germany decided that everyone should contribute to keeping the media independent. And this contribution is the ARD radio tax that every household in Germany has to pay.

NOTE: It’s the household and not an individual that has to pay the radio tax. So, if you are living in a shared apartment, only one person has to pay the tax.

#11 Things to take care of while drilling holes in the walls or ceilings

Most landlords explicitly mention in the contract that drilling holes are not allowed. But, even if it is, you must be careful while drilling holes.

Electric wires and water pipelines are inside the walls. So, you should make sure that you do not damage a wire or a pipe while drilling a hole.

As the wires and water pipelines cannot be seen with the naked eye, you can use a wall scanner* to scan them. If a wire or pipe is present, you cannot drill at that spot.

#12 Being loud during the Ruhezeit

Every apartment building has defined a time period during which you cannot make loud noises, such as playing loud music or doing construction work. This time period is called Ruhezeit in German, which is translated to “silent time” in English.

Generally, the Ruhezeit is between 22:00 and 06:00 every day and Sunday the whole day. If you are having a party or drilling a hole during this time, don’t be surprised if neighbors or the police knock on your door.

In the end

Don’t worry if you have already made those mistakes. Many other foreigners and I did too. What’s important is to learn from them and not repeat them.

So, enjoy your time in this great country and not let one bad experience shadow several good ones.