ROUTE
Moving (Umzug)
Personal moving checklist for Germany: notice, Anmeldung, utility transfers, deposit return, and address change. Your personalised route based on car ownership, children, and pets.
β Checked: 15/07/2026
Moving within Germany is less about the van than about a chain of deadlines, each with its own price for being late. Registering your new address: 14 days, or a fine of up to β¬1,000 under Β§54 BMG. Re-registering a car: one week, up to β¬500. A dog: two weeks, β¬500β1,000. This route puts all those deadlines in order and hides what does not apply to you β car, children and pets are switched on by the questions at the start.
Tailor the route to you
Answer a few questions and only the steps you actually need will remain. We will hide the rest.
Are you moving from another home within Germany?
Do you have a car?
Do you have a dog?
Do you have children?
COSTS AND DEADLINES
Deadlines you cannot miss
- 14 Tage nach EinzugAnmeldung: Register Your Addresshard deadline
Amounts follow official fees as of each stepβs verification date. Your city may charge a different rate β check the step itself.
βΊ More about this route
Two actions matter more than the rest, and both take minutes. First: send the termination of your old tenancy by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt β four euros for proof against three months of rent if the landlord claims nothing arrived. Second: photograph the meter readings within the first half hour after getting the keys, or a bill carrying the previous tenant's debts may turn up a month later.
Then comes what most people learn last: registering your address updates neither the tax office nor the family benefits office β those are separate databases. The broadcasting fee runs from the day you move in, not from the day the letter arrives. And an internet connection at the new address takes four to twelve weeks, which is why the provider is told in the first week.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
All possible documents for this route
- Reisepass oder PersonalausweisPassport or national ID card
- WohnungsgeberbestΓ€tigungLandlord's confirmation of move-in (Β§19 BMG form)
WHERE PEOPLE MOST OFTEN LOSE MONEY AND TIME
- Sending the tenancy termination as an ordinary letter. The landlord need only say nothing arrived and you pay three more months. Registered mail with acknowledgement costs a few euros and ends the argument.
- Moving in without photographing the meters. Without a dated photo there is no way to show where the previous tenant's consumption ends and yours begins.
- Missing the 14-day registration deadline. Fines reach β¬1,000; if no appointment is available, save a dated screenshot of your booking attempt β it evidences a genuine effort.
- Assuming registration notifies every authority. The tax office and the family benefits office have no access to the residents' register: with the first, late post becomes a late-payment surcharge; with the second, payments simply stop and take four to six weeks to restart.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ROUTE
What has to be done in the first two weeks after moving in?βΎ
Four things with hard deadlines. Registration at the BΓΌrgeramt: 14 days. Registering for the broadcasting fee: it runs from your move-in date. Re-registering the car: one week after the address registration. A dog in the new municipality: two weeks. Meter photos have no formal deadline but belong in the first half hour.
What comes first β the address registration or the other transfers?βΎ
The registration. The Meldebescheinigung with your new address is required almost everywhere afterwards: without it the vehicle registration appointment collapses, and banks and insurers want the proof too. The logic is simple β first the state knows where you live, then everyone else does.
What does a move cost in unavoidable charges?βΎ
Mail forwarding from β¬29 for six months, new number plates when changing registration district β¬40β80, dog tax in the new municipality usually β¬50β200 a year, the broadcasting fee β¬18.36 a month per flat. The penalties outweigh the charges themselves: up to β¬1,000 for registration, up to β¬500 for the car.
What gets forgotten most often?βΎ
The tax office and the family benefits office. Both learn about your move only from you, and both punish silence: a tax notice sent to your old address turns into a missed deadline and a surcharge, while a returned letter from the family benefits office stops your child benefit.