Five things that surprise everyone the first time
Moving within Germany works differently from moving in most other countries — not worse, just differently regulated. Five things catch people out, and all five are avoidable if you know about them in advance.
1. The liability is capped by law, and the cap is per cubic metre
This is the big one. In Germany, a moving company's liability for your goods is set by statute: 620 euro per cubic metre of loading space required to fulfil the contract. It is written into § 451e of the Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch, HGB), and it applies whether or not anyone mentions it.
What that means in practice: multiply your volume by 620. A two-room flat at 25 m³ is covered up to 15,500 euro. A four-room flat at 50 m³ up to 31,000 euro. That is the ceiling for the whole move, not per item.
For ordinary household contents, this is usually generous. For a household with art, designer furniture, a collection or professional equipment, it is often not. In that case you arrange additional transport insurance, and here is the part that surprises people: you declare the value yourself. The moving company does not assess your belongings; you state what should be insured, and the premium follows that figure.
2. The deadline for reporting damage is short, and missing it is fatal
Under § 438 HGB there are two deadlines:
- Visible damage must be reported at handover — on moving day, in front of the crew, before they leave.
- Concealed damage must be reported within 14 days, in writing.
If you miss the deadline, the law presumes the goods were delivered undamaged. You can theoretically rebut that presumption; in practice, weeks later, you cannot.
The practical consequence: do not let the crew leave until you have walked through the flat and looked at the things that matter to you. It takes twenty minutes at the end of a long day, and it is the only moment in which the first deadline can still be met.
3. A price without a survey is not a price
In Germany a serious moving company will not give you a binding fixed price over the phone. They will give you a range, and then arrange a Besichtigung — a survey, either on site or by video — before issuing a written quote.
This is not sales friction. It is how a Festpreis, a fixed price, becomes binding: the company has seen the volume, the stairwell, the access, and takes the risk of having judged it wrong.
Anyone who promises a fixed price without a survey is doing one of two things: padding the figure generously, or planning to come back for more later. Both are worse for you than twenty minutes on a video call.
4. You probably need to reserve the street — three weeks in advance
In most central Munich districts — Altstadt, Lehel, Maxvorstadt, Schwabing, Haidhausen, Au, Neuhausen, Westend — there is no realistic chance of finding twelve metres of free kerb outside your building on the day. Resident parking zones run on weekdays and are effectively at capacity.
The solution is a Halteverbotszone: a temporary no-parking zone, applied for at the city authority, with signs put up at least three full days beforehand. It costs 300 € per address with us.
The critical part is the lead time: roughly three weeks, and it cannot be accelerated, not for extra money. In practice this means the no-parking zone, not the availability of a moving van, is what determines the earliest possible moving date.
5. Registration is a legal duty with a two-week deadline
Within two weeks of moving in, you must register your new address — an Anmeldung if you are new to Germany, an Ummeldung if you are moving within it. In Munich that is the Kreisverwaltungsreferat.
Two things to know:
You need a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung. This is a form your landlord signs confirming you have actually moved in. Without it, no registration. Ask for it as soon as the tenancy is signed.
Appointments are the bottleneck. Slots at Munich's Bürgerbüros are often booked weeks ahead — longer than the two-week deadline itself. Book the appointment the moment your moving date is fixed, not after you have moved.
What a move actually costs
Prices are published in full on this site, and that is unusual for the industry. The headline figures, gross and including 19 % VAT:
| Home | Volume | Crew | Typical (gross) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 room, 30–40 m² | 12–18 m³ | 2 people | 450 – 850 € |
| 2 rooms, 55–70 m² | 20–30 m³ | 2–3 people | 700 – 1.400 € |
| 3 rooms, 75–95 m² | 30–40 m³ | 3–4 people | 1.100 – 2.000 € |
| 4 rooms, 100–120 m² | 40–55 m³ | 4 people | 1.400 – 2.800 € |
| House, 140–200 m² | 60–90 m³ | 4–6 people | 2.400 – 4.500 € |
Add the extras you actually need: packing material 80 – 250 €, full packing 300 – 900 €, furniture dismantling and assembly 200 – 600 €, a no-parking zone 300 € per address.
Note that consumer prices in Germany are quoted gross — VAT included. If you see a figure that looks unusually low, check whether it is net.
The German vocabulary you will meet
- Umzug — the move
- Besichtigung — the survey that produces a binding price
- Festpreis — fixed price, as opposed to an hourly rate
- Halteverbotszone — the temporary no-parking zone
- Kaution — the deposit, usually up to three months' cold rent
- Kaltmiete / Warmmiete — rent excluding / including service charges
- Nebenkosten — service charges
- Wohnungsgeberbestätigung — the landlord's confirmation you need to register
- Nachsendeauftrag — mail forwarding, from Deutsche Post
- besenrein — "broom-clean", the standard condition in which you hand back a flat
- Übergabeprotokoll — the handover record, with meter readings and keys
The one that catches people out at the end
Besenrein — broom-clean — is the standard you owe your old landlord: swept, emptied, no rubbish. What you generally do not owe, unless your contract validly requires it, is a full repaint. German case law has struck down many rigid renovation clauses in tenancy agreements.
If your landlord demands renovation work at handover, do not agree on the spot. Take photographs of the empty flat before you hand over the keys, insist on a written Übergabeprotokoll with meter readings and the number of keys, and get advice afterwards. The photographs are the only evidence you will still have a month later.
Contracts are in German — and that is fine
Your moving contract will be in German, because that is the language that binds. A translation is a courtesy, not a second contract.
What you should insist on is that every clause is explained before you sign — particularly the scope of work, the liability, and what counts as an extra. We advise in German, English, Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian and Croatian, and for a document containing statutory liability caps and reporting deadlines, that is not a convenience. It is the difference between signing something you understand and signing something you hope you understand.