Landlords take note! New registration law applies from November 1st

Landlord must confirm new address!

From November 1st, tenants must again submit a certificate of residence from their landlord to the residents' registration office after moving in. Property owners, who are obligated to cooperate according to § 19 BMG (Federal Registration Act), should not delay this obligation, as the change of address must be reported by the new tenant to the relevant registration authority within two weeks.

Fines of up to €1,000

“Anyone who only goes to the residents' registration office after that may be committing an administrative offense,” explains Andreas Schanz, spokesperson for the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior. The fine, for both the tenant and the homeowner, can be up to 1,000 euros.

The regulation, abolished in 2002, is being reintroduced nationwide because the number of fictitious registrations is increasing. The current registration law is susceptible to abuse, as in principle anyone can register any address to "disappear".

This is intended, among other things, to prevent criminals and terrorists from registering with residents' registration offices using false addresses. It does happen that police officers raid the homes of law-abiding citizens in the middle of the night because criminals had given their addresses to conceal illegal activities.

However, address misuse also occurs in the best families: In order to register their children in the desired primary school or to avoid social hotspots, more and more parents give false addresses or "make mistakes" when stating the house number.

Landlords should not assist in this, because anyone who supports a sham registration out of kindness, e.g. because friends do not want to send their child to a school with a high percentage of foreigners, must expect a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

Representatives of homeowners welcome the new regulation, even though it entails additional effort: From November 1st, landlords have a right to information from the registration authorities and can inquire free of charge at the residents' registration offices about who is registered at their property. This is intended to prevent tenants from subletting to other occupants. "A landlord wants to know who is registered at their property," says Gerold Happ of Haus & Grund Deutschland. This raises the bar for those attempting to falsify registration information.

Is the amendment sensible?

The German Tenants' Association is less than enthusiastic about the reinstated regulation, which was abolished 13 years ago by the red-green federal government because it was considered too complicated and bureaucratic. Furthermore, tenants had already been regularly complaining back then about not receiving the certificate for the residents' registration office from their landlords in time.

But who wants to pick a fight with the new landlord?

Legal advisor Dietmar Wall also doubts that the new registration law will prevent criminals or terrorists from secretly renting apartments: "Anyone capable of committing major crimes or terrorist attacks can easily conceal their true identity with a forged passport," says Wall.

The certificate can be issued in either written or electronic form. Landlords can send it either to the tenant or directly to the relevant authority.

The landlord must provide the following information in addition to their name and address: the address of the apartment, the date, and the name of the person required to register. Furthermore, the confirmation should clearly state whether it concerns a move-in or move-out.

Sources: Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), welt.de, sueddeutsche.de, news.immowelt.de