What insurance do I need when moving into my first flat in Germany?
In short
When moving into your first flat in Germany, the main thing you need is your own contents insurance (Hausratversicherung), often from about EUR 25 a year for a small flat. Your parents' personal liability insurance usually still covers you until you finish your first training or degree; after that, your own policy costs about EUR 40 to 120 a year.
Guide values from published tariff examples for contents and personal liability insurance in Germany.
Example
Typical range
Contents, small flat or room in a shared flat, basic tariff
from about EUR 22 to 25 a year
Contents, 75 square metres, average tariff zone
about EUR 90 to 120 a year
Personal liability, single tariff with EUR 10 to 50 million cover
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Personal liability, simple starter tariff
from about EUR 3 a month
Guide values as of October 2026 from publicly stated tariff examples.
The amounts in the worked example are guide values from our quoting practice.
Your premium depends on location, floor area and cover; we obtain the exact quote.
Worked example
Trainee, 20, 35 square metres
This is the cover in the first year if the parents have a family liability policy.
Contents sum insured (35 × EUR 650)
EUR 22,750
Contents including gross negligence
about EUR 30 to 60
Bicycle add-on up to EUR 1,000
about EUR 20 to 40
Personal liability through the parents
EUR 0 until the end of training
About EUR 50 to 100 a year in total. After training, about EUR 40 to 120 for your own liability policy is added.
Contents insurance for your first own home
While you live with your parents, your things are covered by their contents insurance. If a child moves away only for a while, for example into student halls, the parents' cover away from home (Außenversicherung) often still applies, usually capped at 10 percent of the sum insured. Once your first flat is your own household, this route ends.
Many insurers work with EUR 650 per square metre as the sum insured. For 35 square metres that is EUR 22,750. If you own little furniture, add up what replacing everything new would really cost, and ask whether the insurer still waives the underinsurance deduction at a lower sum.
Liability: how long your parents' policy covers you
In a family policy, children are usually covered until the end of their first school education, vocational training or degree, even after moving out. Older contracts sometimes require you to live in your parents' household or end at age 25. Check your parents' terms before you move.
Cover ends with marriage, a permanent job after training or a second degree, and nobody will warn you. In a rented flat, damage to the flat itself, such as the parquet floor or the washbasin, counts as damage to rented property (Mietsachschäden) and is often poorly covered in old policies.
Health insurance when you leave home
Free family cover in statutory health insurance does not depend on where you live. Children are covered up to 18, up to 23 if not working, and up to 25 while in school, vocational training, university or a voluntary social year, as long as their own income stays below a low limit.
If you start paid vocational training, you become a member of a health insurance fund yourself. This often happens around the time of moving out, but it is caused by the training, not by the move.
What you need and when
This overview shows which policies become relevant with your first flat in Germany and which can wait.
Insurance
When moving out
Later
Contents (Hausrat)
own policy for the flat
raise the sum as you buy more furniture
Personal liability (Privathaftpflicht)
check your parents' policy
own policy after your first training
Health insurance
family cover continues until the limits
own membership with training or a job
Bicycle
add-on in the contents policy if the bike stays outside
update the amount for a new bike
Occupational disability (Berufsunfähigkeit)
not urgent while you do not live on your own income
consider once you live on your salary
What your first flat does not need
Glass insurance rarely pays off in a small rented flat, as the windows belong to the building. Travel luggage insurance is mostly unnecessary if your contents policy includes cover away from home.
Step by step
Check in your parents' terms how long you are covered by their liability policy.
Take out contents insurance from the day you get the keys, not after the move.
Check whether your bike, laptop or instrument is worth more than usual.
Tell your health insurance fund when you start paid training or a job.
Put a reminder in your calendar: end of training means your own liability policy.
Checklist
Contents insurance starts on the day you get the keys
Gross negligence included in the contents policy
Cover under your parents' liability policy confirmed in writing
Damage to rented property sufficiently covered
Bicycle covered if it stands in the yard or at the station
Common mistakes
Assuming your parents' contents insurance covers your own flat
Missing the end of your training and being left without liability cover
Buying extra policies before contents and liability are in place
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Do I need contents insurance if I hardly own any furniture?
Usually yes.
Clothes, laptop, phone and bike quickly add up to several thousand euros,
and a fire or water damage hits everything at once.
For a small flat it often costs only EUR 2 to 5 a month.
Am I still covered by my parents' liability insurance after moving out?
In most newer family policies yes, until the end of your first training or degree.
Some older contracts require you to live with your parents.
Do I have to tell my health insurance fund about the move?
Your new address, yes.
Family cover does not end because you move out,
but because of age, your own income or your own compulsory insurance.
What about damage during the move itself?
If friends help, their liability insurance only pays if their policy includes damage caused while
doing someone a favour.
A removal company is liable by law up to a maximum amount.
Do I need my own policy in a shared flat?
Usually yes, for your room and your share of kitchen and bathroom.
A joint policy is possible if everyone is named in it.
