Who pays after a fire in a rented flat in Germany?
In short
After a fire in a rented flat in Germany, the landlord's building insurance pays for walls, floors and windows, your contents insurance (Hausrat) for furniture, clothes, electronics and the hotel. Who caused the fire through simple negligence is not pursued by the building insurer. Contents cover for 75 square metres costs about EUR 25 to 120 a year.
What cover costs for tenants in Germany, from published tariff examples. The landlord pays the building insurance and passes it on through the service charges.
Example
Typical range
Contents insurance, 75 to 80 square metres, depending on location
Personal liability, single, with damage to rented property
about EUR 40 to 120 a year
Personal liability, couple or family
about EUR 60 to 180 a year
Guide values as of October 2026 from published tariff examples.
The figures in the worked example are assumed values for illustration;
we obtain the exact quote for you.
Worked example
Short circuit in the kettle, 70 square metre rented flat
The fire spreads through the kitchen, soot gets into every room. The flat is uninhabitable for five weeks, nobody acted with gross negligence.
Kitchen, walls, floors, windows (building insurance)
about EUR 40,000
Furniture, clothes, electronics at replacement value (contents)
about EUR 22,000
Hotel, 35 nights at EUR 80 (contents, if the policy allows that much)
EUR 2,800
Storage of saved belongings (contents)
about EUR 600
Rent of EUR 900 for just over a month
not owed
With contents insurance you pay practically nothing yourself. Without it, around EUR 25,400 stays with you even though you did not cause the fire.
Which insurance pays for what after a fire
After a fire in a rented flat, three contracts work together. The building insurance (Wohngebäudeversicherung) belongs to the landlord and pays for everything fixed to the house: walls, ceilings, screed, windows, doors and pipes. Your contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) pays for everything you would take with you when moving out, at replacement value. Your personal liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht) only matters if you are liable for damage to the building or to other people's things.
As a tenant you pay for the building insurance indirectly. The landlord may pass the cost of insuring the building against fire on to you as service charges (section 2 no. 13 Operating Costs Ordinance).
Damage after the fire
Who pays
What matters
Walls, ceilings, floors, windows, doors
landlord's building insurance
landlord reports the claim
Fitted kitchen let with the flat
landlord's building insurance
counts as part of the building
Your furniture, clothes, electronics
your contents insurance
replacement value up to the sum insured
Soot and fire-fighting water on your things
your contents insurance
counts as fire damage
Hotel or holiday flat
your contents insurance
days and daily rate as per policy
Your things, fire started next door
your contents insurance
regardless of who caused it
If you caused the fire yourself
Once the building insurer has paid the landlord, it could in principle claim the money back from whoever caused the fire. The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) ruled, however, that it waives this recourse against a tenant who acted with simple negligence (judgment of 8 November 2000, IV ZR 298/99), because the tenant pays part of the premium through the service charges.
It is different with gross negligence, for example leaving hot fat on the stove and going out. Then the building insurer can come after you. Your personal liability insurance pays that claim, because it only refuses intentional damage (section 103 Insurance Contract Act, VVG). For your own things, contents insurance may reduce payment for gross negligence (section 81 VVG) unless your policy waives this.
Rent, hotel and storage after the fire
While the flat is uninhabitable after a fire, you owe no rent. If it is partly usable, the rent is reduced appropriately (section 536 Civil Code, BGB). This does not help if you caused the fire through your own fault.
Under the model conditions, contents insurance pays hotel costs without breakfast until the flat is habitable again, plus the cost of moving and storing the belongings that were saved. How many days and how much per night is set by each policy. Check this now, not after the fire.
If the fire starts in the neighbouring flat
If a fire next door destroys your belongings through smoke or water, your own contents insurance still pays. Fire is an insured peril wherever it started, so you do not have to prove your neighbour was at fault.
Without contents insurance you can only claim against the neighbour, and only if he was at fault and you can prove it. If a faulty device caused the fire without anyone's fault, you get nothing.
When you can do without contents insurance for fire
If you live in a furnished flat, own little and could replace it from savings, you can skip contents insurance. For most tenants with a furnished home, losing everything in a fire means a five-figure sum.
Never skip personal liability insurance, though. It is your only protection if you cause a fire through gross negligence and the damage to the building ends up with you.
Step by step
Call the fire brigade on 112, leave the flat and warn your neighbours.
Inform your landlord and your contents insurer straight away.
Photograph the damage and throw nothing away before the insurer agrees.
Write a list of destroyed items with current new prices.
Agree hotel and storage costs with the insurer in advance and keep receipts.
Reduce or suspend the rent in writing while the flat is uninhabitable.
Checklist
Contents insurance with an adequate sum, about EUR 650 per square metre
Waiver of reductions for gross negligence in the contents policy
Hotel costs: days and daily rate checked
Personal liability insurance including damage to rented property
Working smoke alarms in bedrooms and hallways
Photos of your furnishings stored in the cloud
Common mistakes
Assuming the landlord's building insurance also pays for your furniture
Throwing everything away before the insurer has seen it
Continuing to pay rent although the flat is uninhabitable
Living without personal liability insurance and relying on the recourse waiver
Questions and answers
Frequently asked
Does my landlord have to pay for a hotel?
He only owes damages if he is at fault for the fire.
In practice your contents insurance pays the hotel if your policy includes hotel costs.
Does the building insurance pay for my belongings?
No.
It only covers the building and what is fixed to it.
Your furniture and clothes are covered only by your contents insurance.
What if I caused the fire through gross negligence?
Then the building insurer can claim the money from you.
Your personal liability insurance covers that; only intent is excluded.
Am I covered as a subtenant or in a shared flat?
Your things only through your own or a joint contents policy.
Clarify whose policy names your belongings.
Does contents insurance pay if a faulty battery starts the fire?
Yes, fire is covered whatever the cause.
Only gross negligence or intent can lead to reductions.
