About two-thirds of American renters reportedly pay an application fee when they apply for housing. Tenant background check companies produce reports with extensive personal information. In 2022 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that renters who tried to correct their reports saw the same bad information show up again on future reports.
Good records travel less well. According to industry estimates cited by the bureau, rental payment history appears for only about 2% of renters.
A German builder does not have to rely on trust to be paid. Section 650f of the Civil Code gives him the right to demand security from the client. It begins: Der Unternehmer kann vom Besteller Sicherheit für die auch in Zusatzaufträgen vereinbarte und noch nicht gezahlte Vergütung … verlangen. The contractor can demand security from the client for the agreed fee not yet paid, including the fee for additional orders. Another 10 percent is added for related claims. The security is usually a guarantee from a bank or a credit insurer.
A craftsmen’s magazine explains that the builder can demand it at any time after the contract is signed. If the client does not provide it within a reasonable deadline, the builder may stop work or end the contract. Eine von den Absätzen 1 bis 5 abweichende Vereinbarung ist unwirksam. An agreement that departs from these rules is void. The rule does not apply to public bodies that cannot go bankrupt. It also does not apply to a consumer under a consumer construction contract.
A person in Germany who sells or rents out a house or an apartment must show an Energieausweis, an energy certificate, to the interested party. This must happen at the latest during the viewing. The certificate states how much energy the building needs or uses, and it gives an efficiency class. If a certificate exists, the real estate ad must already list key figures from it. These include the energy demand or consumption, the main source of heating energy, the year of construction and the efficiency class. After the contract is signed, the buyer or tenant receives the certificate or a copy. An owner who does not show it in time can be fined up to 10,000 euros.
Under German law, each side may break off negotiations until the contract is signed. Money spent in the hope of a deal is spent at one’s own risk. A judgment of the Federal Court of Justice of 29 March 1996 shows how narrow the exception is. A printer rented space in a building. The new owner planned to sell the units, and the two sides negotiated a price of 750,000 marks for the printer’s space. From April 1991 to February 1992, the printer paid to convert the rooms. Then the owner asked for 1,000,000 marks, and the sale failed. The court said that such costs can be claimed only if the contract could be taken as certain. Because a property sale needs a notary, the court set a further condition. As a rule, the other side must have acted on purpose, for example by pretending to be ready to sign. The court gave its reason. Liability for an honest change of mind would mean einen indirekten Zwang zum Vertragsabschluß, indirect pressure to conclude the contract.
In a repair café, volunteers help people mend broken things. In October 2018, 660 such initiatives were registered in Germany. In September 2026 about 1,900 were listed. The foundation anstiftung runs the online directory where the initiatives are listed. The idea is usually traced to the Netherlands in 2009.
Since 1984, new buildings in Germany must have a residual-current circuit breaker for wet rooms. Since 2007, every newly installed socket circuit of up to 20 amperes needs one. The usual trip current is 30 milliamperes. Year after year, people die when electrical appliances fall into full bathtubs.
Germans still usually call the device the FI-Schalter, although the trade now says RCD. When it trips, they say der FI ist rausgeflogen, the FI has flown out. Older private installations need not be retrofitted, except after certain renovations or where there is an obvious danger.
Section 892 of the German Civil Code is headed Öffentlicher Glaube des Grundbuchs, public faith in the land register. For a person who acquires a right to land by contract, gilt der Inhalt des Grundbuchs als richtig, the content of the land register counts as correct. There are two exceptions. Either an objection to the entry has been recorded, or the buyer knows that the entry is wrong. A buyer may therefore rely on what the register says. Buyers also secure their claim in the register before the sale is complete. The notary has an Auflassungsvormerkung, a priority notice, entered for them. The savings banks’ guide explains the effect. Ab diesem Zeitpunkt ist die Käuferseite rechtlich geschützt. From this moment the buyer is protected by law.
A German window usually opens in two ways with one handle. In one position the window tilts open at the top. In the other it swings open like a door. A gear turns the movement of the handle into the straight movement of rods.
A lock prevents a wrong move, the Fehlbedienungssperre. It stops the handle from going straight from the tilt position to the turn position. Tilt-and-turn fittings are still the most common choice in German housing and commercial building.
A tenant’s lease said that the rent was due in advance by the third working day of each month. For more than two years he paid in the middle of the month or even later. The landlord warned him, and the payments came late again. The landlord then ended the lease without notice. On 11 January 2006 the Federal Court of Justice ruled on the case. Rent that is paid late again and again can be a reason for termination without notice. After repeated delays and a warning, even a single further delay can be enough.
A German landlord does not know the people who apply for an apartment. Many landlords therefore ask for a Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung, a certificate that the applicant owes no rent. The landlord the tenant is leaving issues it. The property portal ImmoScout24 describes a related document, the Vorvermieterbescheinigung, in this way. It shows dass du frei von Mietschulden bist und zuverlässig deine Miete gezahlt hast, that you owe no rent and have paid your rent reliably. Landlords usually ask for a Schufa credit report and proof of income as well. On 30 September 2009 the Federal Court of Justice ruled that landlords do not have to issue such a certificate to tenants who move out. The magazine of the Berlin tenants’ association wrote that the highest court had called the practice into question. A tenant without the certificate can show receipts or bank statements instead.