Overview
Calculators in English
Four of the forty-eight calculators are fully translated — the ones that matter most if you are renting or buying in Germany without German as a first language. The rest are available in German; each is linked below with a short description of what it does.
Service charges
The ten items that appear in almost every statement, apportioned by floor area or per occupant. With the twelve-month deadline, what may not be charged at all, and what happens when the deadline is missed.
RentingRental deposit
Three months' net rent at most, three instalments, held separately from the landlord's own money and earning interest for the tenant.
BuyingPurchase costs
Transfer tax from 3.5 to 6.5 per cent depending on the state, notary and land registry fees from the statutory schedule, and the split commission rule.
InvestingRental yield
Gross yield is easy and says little. Net yield after purchase costs, management, maintenance and vacancy is the number that matters.
Available in German only
The remaining calculators cover the same ground in more depth. German legal vocabulary is hard to avoid there, but the arithmetic is the same and the numbers speak for themselves.
- Mieterhöhung — whether a rent increase is lawful: the fifteen-month standstill period, the 15 or 20 per cent cap and the local reference rent.
- Mietminderung — rent reduction for defects, calculated day by day from the gross rent.
- Mietpreisbremse — the rent cap for new lettings in designated areas, with its four exceptions.
- Kündigungsfrist — notice periods, which grow from three to nine months with the length of the tenancy.
- Heizkosten — heating costs, of which between 50 and 70 per cent must be billed by metered consumption.
- Wohnfläche — how floor area is measured: sloping ceilings count half, balconies usually a quarter, cellars not at all.
- Mietpreis — average net rent per square metre for all 10,635 German municipalities.
- All 48 calculators — the full overview, filterable by role and topic.
A note on the language of the law
Several German statutes are published in official English translation at gesetze-im-internet.de, including the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch), which contains most of tenancy law in sections 535 to 580a. The translations are for information only; the German text governs.