Don't forget the Übergabeprotokoll!

I learned the importance of the “Übergabeprotokoll” (handover document) the hard way. This is essentially a document that you go should insist on going through when you move into a flat and write down whether there are any damages or if there is anything missing in the flat. This can be anything from windows that don’t open properly to scratches on the floor, etc. Make sure you check everything and no matter how small or trivial you consider it to be; get it in writing. The document should also act as a kind of inventory and include anything that you are getting with the flat; mirrors in the bathroom, towel railings, number of keys, etc. The Germans are well-known for their bureaucracy, so as the saying goes, if you can’t beat them; join them!

Like I said, I learned the hard way. As a student, I moved into a room in a “Studentenwohnheim” (student halls) and it was the only room in the corridor with a carpet. I thought nothing more of it. The “Hausmeister” (caretaker) handed me the keys and that was it; I was in. 

A year later and my year abroad in Germany had come to an end. A different caretaker was there to check all was ok and sign a document to give me back my deposit on moving out.  “Die Tapete gehört aber nicht zu der Wohnung,” he said. (The carpet, however, does not belong to the flat). After a measly attempt to explain that it was in the flat when I moved in and trying to reason with him that it should therefore also stay there, he told me there would be no deposit unless the carpet came out.

This situation was bad, but was compounded further by the fact that I had returned in the early hours of that very morning from a very drunken farewell do. My head was pounding and my dad had turned up to quickly pick me up and drive back to the UK. Anyone who knows my dad also knows that he is very punctual and tolerates no nonsense. We all ended up on the floor along with my very kind French neighbor, for what seemed like hours, using various kitchen utensils to scrape up the carpet. The only word that came and still comes to mind when I relive the situation is “Scheisse!”  I will never, ever, ever again forget the “Übergabeprotokoll.”