First letting checklist

The first weeks after the purchase

Most mistakes in a first letting happen in the first weeks after the purchase: missing insurance cover, an overlooked renovation in the owners' association or a deposit that stays with the seller. With this list you stay on top of the first weeks and know what is due every year after that.

The checklist asks whether you bought a condominium and whether you are taking over a tenant, and only shows you the steps that fit your situation.

The order in which you start

As a new landlord you first settle the basics, read the association's documents if it is a condominium, inform an inherited tenant or let anew, and then plan the yearly tasks. You only become the landlord with the entry in the land register.

1. Wait for the land register entry, sort out insurance and open a separate account for the rents.
2. Gather documents: energy certificate, floor plan, living area calculation and purchase contract.
3. Work out the return with the real figures.
4. For a condominium, read the declaration of division, the budget and the minutes, and get in touch with the manager.
5. Inform an inherited tenant or let anew.
6. Plan the yearly tasks: rent receipts, service charge statement, duties at the property and tax return.

What comes first after the purchase

After the purchase you first sort out insurance cover, meaning buildings insurance and liability insurance for property owners, in an owners' association via the manager. A separate account keeps rents and expenses apart from your private account, which makes statements and tax returns easier.

Work out with the real figures what the flat earns: the net rental yield calculator includes purchase costs and running costs such as management, reserves and loss of rent. The purchase costs calculator shows how transfer tax, notary and agent feed into your depreciation.

What the owners' association documents reveal

For a condominium, the key rules are in the declaration of division and the community regulations, the costs in the budget and planned renovations in the minutes of the owners' meetings. Planned renovations cost you money, so read the minutes before your first meeting.

Not everything in the owners' fees can be passed on to your tenant: the manager's fee and the maintenance reserve stay out. You calculate the notice and challenge periods for the meeting with the owners' association deadline calculator.

If you take over a tenant

If you buy a rented flat, the lease continues unchanged: sale does not break a lease (§ 566 BGB). With the land register entry you step into the lease with all rights and duties.

Inform your tenant about the change of owner and the new account, take over the deposit from the seller and apportion rents and service charges with the seller as of the handover date.

If you let anew

If you let anew, you first set the rent; in areas with a rent cap at most 10 % above the local comparative rent, which you check with the rent cap calculator. You find the right tenant with the tenant selection checklist and draw up the lease with the rental agreement template.

What comes up every year

Four tasks recur every year: check rent receipts every month, prepare the service charge statement within twelve months after the end of the billing period, fulfil the duties at the property and fill in the Anlage V for your tax return.

For the duties at the property there is the landlord duties checklist, for taxes the Anlage V checklist.