How to change your address in Germany

When you move into a new apartment, you must change your address. It’s not automatic. This guide shows you how to do it.

Put your name on your mailbox

German apartments rarely have apartment numbers. Everyone in the building has the same address. Each person has a mailbox with their name on it. If there is no mailbox with your name on it, you will not receive your mail.

Illustration of German mailboxes (Briefkasten)

Ask your landlord or Hausverwaltung to put your name on your mailbox and doorbell. Your landlord can’t charge you a fee for this.5 If your name is not on the lease, your landlord can refuse to put your name on the mailbox.4 If you put the name yourself, your landlord can remove it.8

If you can’t put your name on your mailbox, add “c/o” or “bei” to your address.

Learn to write your new address

How to address letters in Germany

Register your address

Register your address at the Bürgeramt. This is called the Anmeldung. If you can’t put your name on the mailbox, add “c/o” or “bei” to your official address.

How to register your address

The Bürgeramt will tell these people your new address:

Notify everyone

Use umziehen.de to tell over 1000 companies your new address. It’s a free service from Deutsche Post. They only share your new address with businesses that already know your old address.

You should also tell…

Forward your mail

You might still receive letters at your old address. You can pay to forward mail from your old address to your new address. Register for this service before you move.

Deutsche Post – 30€ for 6 months

Mail forwarding is unreliable. Official mail from the Bürgeramt, Finanzamt and Ausländerbehörde is not always forwarded.6 Forwarded mail can take a week longer to arrive.7 Packages are not forwarded.

Sources and footnotes
  1. umzugsportal.de 

  2. umziehen.de 

  3. berlin.de 

  4. reddit.com/r/berlin, mietrecht.org 

  5. haufe.de 

  6. reddit.com, reddit.com, Oliver Frankfurth at Deregistration.de (October 2023), verbraucherzentrale.de, paketda.de 

  7. Kathleen Parker at Red Tape Translation (October 2023) 

  8. vermietet.de (2022)