Flatmate's broadcasting fee account number (for joining)
Broadcasting fee
If someone in your household already pays the Rundfunkbeitrag, you are exempt from paying a duplicate. The principle of ‘one household — one contribution’ works in your favour.
What you need
Ask your flatmate for their Beitragsnummer — the 9-digit number printed on their registration confirmation and in the top right corner of every letter from the Beitragsservice.
What happens next depends on whether the Beitragsservice has contacted you:
No letter — nothing to do. Under § 8 (3) RBStV, one resident’s registration for a flat also covers the other residents who would otherwise have to report: the flat is registered, so your duty is discharged. Just keep the number to hand.
Letter received, or an account already runs in your name — reply using the ‘Wohnung abmelden’ form, quoting your flatmate’s Beitragsnummer as the payer for this flat. This is a deregistration, not an exemption: Befreiung under § 4 RBStV exists only on social-benefit grounds and has nothing to do with sharing a flat.
Important
Invoices may still arrive before it is processed — don’t panic. Afterwards the charges on your account are cancelled. Staying silent is not an option: while the account runs in your name, so does the fee.
On moving into the shared flat I reported the flatmate number via one online form — the letter addressed to me was settled at once. The flat pays once; the trick is the correct notification.
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Lea recommends:
A couple in one flat also pays only once. If each registered separately out of ignorance, file to cancel one: the overpayment of past months is refunded on request.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Moved into a shared flat that already pays — do I register?▾
No: the flat's fee is already covered by your flatmate, and under § 8 (3) RBStV their registration counts for everyone living in that flat. As long as the Beitragsservice has not written to you, there is nothing to do at all. If a letter does arrive, reply quoting their Beitragsnummer.
The letter came to me though my flatmate pays?▾
Do not ignore it: reply stating the payer contribution number. Silence turns into a bill with reminders — one letter settles it in minutes.
I move from the shared flat to my own place — what changes?▾
Own flat, own fee: register as the new flat holder. If you were the shared-flat payer, assign a new payer among those staying, or the bill runs for an address empty to you.