Guides / Lease
Lease
Clauses, duties and what may validly be agreed in the Mietvertrag.
Not everything written in a Mietvertrag actually applies. Decoration clauses, small-repair caps, deposit amounts, many standard clauses are wholly or partly void, and then the statute applies instead. Whoever drafts the lease should know which clauses hold; whoever signs it, which ones don't bind them.
These guides explain the required contents, the limits of permissible clauses and the special forms Staffelmiete and Indexmiete, step by step, with the statutes to read alongside.
Guides for tenants
- Einbauküche from the previous tenant: Ablöse and move-out (2026)
The previous tenant's fitted kitchen in Germany: the Ablöse cannot be far above its current value (§ 4a WoVermittG). Who owns it and what happens at move-out.
- Renting in Germany as a foreigner (2026)
Can a foreigner rent in Germany? Yes, tenancy law protects every tenant regardless of nationality. Documents, renting without SCHUFA and your rights.
- Pets in a German rental: your rights as a tenant (2026)
Can your landlord ban pets? Which animals you can keep without permission, why a blanket ban is void (§ 535 BGB, BGH), and how to get consent.
- Kleinreparaturklausel: when is it valid? (2026)
Kleinreparaturklausel: valid only for often-used items, with per-repair and yearly caps, and no duty to hire a tradesperson. Otherwise the landlord pays.
- Maklerprovision as a tenant: when you have to pay (2026)
Under the Bestellerprinzip, whoever hires the agent pays (§ 2 Abs. 1a WoVermRG), so tenants in Germany usually pay nothing. When you do, and how to push back.
- Check your Mietvertrag before signing (2026)
Check your Mietvertrag before you sign: the Kaution is capped at three Nettokaltmieten (§ 551 BGB), and redecoration and small-repairs clauses are often void.
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