Editorial update: · Richter Immobilien-Transaktionen
Leaving a kitchen, furniture or garden equipment with a house can make moving easier for both parties. A successful agreement needs a clear inventory, an honest condition record and a defensible price allocation. This guide explains the practical steps for a sale in Germany, particularly North Rhine-Westphalia.
Planning a sale in Düsseldorf or NRW? Discuss your sale
Start by agreeing what the buyer actually wants
Selling a house with some of its contents can solve practical problems for both sides. You may avoid removing a usable kitchen or transporting heavy furniture. The buyer may be able to move in with fewer purchases to organise. Those benefits depend on a shared understanding of what stays. Describing a house as furnished does not tell the buyer whether the washing machine, garden tools or cupboards shown in photographs are included.
Walk through the property and divide the contents into three groups: items you will take, items you could offer to the buyer and items that need removing before handover. Check this with any other owners and with relatives who have been promised particular belongings. Establish who owns each item. Borrowed furniture, rented equipment and goods subject to finance arrangements need clarification before you offer them for sale.
Ask interested buyers which items they could use. Your original purchase price and personal attachment do not determine their needs. Someone planning a completely different kitchen may see removal costs where you see a valuable feature. A useful agreement can also include an item at no charge, provided both sides understand and record that arrangement.
Keep the proposed inventory manageable. An agreed selection is easier to describe and value than the vague transfer of an entire household. Use the house sale checklist for the wider selling process, while maintaining a separate list for the contents. This prevents furniture negotiations from obscuring more significant decisions about the property itself.
Distinguish movable items from parts of the building
This guide concerns German law. Everyday English terms such as fixtures, fittings and contents do not map perfectly onto the German legal categories. The German Civil Code, or BGB, distinguishes essential components from other items. Section 93 BGB addresses components that cannot be separated without destruction or a fundamental change. Section 94 BGB also covers items incorporated to construct a building.
A loose dining table, a freestanding wardrobe and a movable lawnmower differ from windows, installed pipework and a normal building heating system. Listing the latter as furniture does not remove them from the property for tax purposes. Equally, the fact that something is attached with screws does not settle every classification question. The actual installation and purpose matter.
Fitted kitchens, specially constructed units, saunas and awnings deserve particular attention. A fitted kitchen may qualify for separate treatment, but there is no blanket rule covering every kitchen or installation. Give the notary photographs and a clear explanation of how an uncertain item is incorporated. A tax adviser should address any remaining tax classification questions.
German law also uses the term Zubehör for certain movable accessories serving the economic purpose of a principal item; section 97 BGB defines the conditions. It does not simply mean everything found in the house. For preparation, sort items into clearly movable contents, clear building components and cases needing review. Do not present the third group as an assured tax deduction before it has been assessed.
Make the inventory understandable to someone who has not visited
Give each inventory entry a number and identify its room or other location. Describe the item, quantity and distinguishing features. For appliances, the manufacturer and model are useful, with a serial number where appropriate. For furniture, dimensions, material, colour and an identifiable photograph may be sufficient. You need a reliable record, not an elaborate catalogue of every ordinary household object.
A kitchen entry needs particular care. Specify the included cupboards, worktop and appliances. If the refrigerator is included but the coffee machine is going with you, state that distinction. A phrase such as complete kitchen invites disagreement when each party imagines a different package. For garden equipment, list batteries, chargers, attachments and keys that form part of the sale.
Add the known condition, agreed price and available supporting documents to each entry. Link photographs to the item numbers and date the list. If negotiations change it, use a clearly identified revised version. Keep available invoices, but avoid sharing unrelated personal information when supplying copies. Missing invoices should be recorded as missing rather than replaced with guessed purchase dates.
Read the exclusions as carefully as the inclusions. Is the workbench staying while its tools are removed? Does a cupboard come with its shelves but without its contents? Send the final version to the notary in time for preparation of the agreement. The notary should decide how the list is incorporated into the deed. A new handwritten list produced at signing is a poor substitute for an agreed document reviewed beforehand.
Record condition and the limits of any demonstration
Condition influences what the buyer is receiving and what the items are worth. Instead of simply describing everything as used, record significant wear, known faults and missing parts. A sticking drawer or a refrigerator with a damaged door seal deserves a specific note. Photographs show visible condition, but they cannot explain an intermittent fault that you already know about.
Distinguish a factual observation from a promise. Saying that the dishwasher completed a short programme during the viewing describes a limited test. Saying that all appliances will work perfectly promises much more. Record when a demonstration took place, what was tested and what was observed. If equipment has not been used for a long time, explain this instead of assuming that its last known condition still applies.
For a kitchen, inspect doors, drawers, the worktop and visible connection areas together. Keep damage to an item separate from possible damage to the building. Damp behind a cupboard is not adequately addressed by describing the cupboard as worn. Where necessary, obtain an appropriate technical assessment. Do not open electrical equipment or carry out improvised repairs merely to demonstrate that it works.
The liability terms need to match the transaction. Under section 444 BGB, a seller cannot rely on an exclusion of liability in the specified circumstances of fraudulent concealment or an assumed guarantee of condition. Discuss both the factual descriptions and any intended assurances with the notary. A clear record is more useful than adding a standard disclaimer to every entry without considering what you have actually promised.
Build the prices from present condition and usefulness
An old invoice is evidence of the original purchase, not proof of today's resale value. Age, maintenance, function, completeness and likely further use all matter. An expensive kitchen can lose considerable value. Conversely, an older item does not become worthless merely because an accounting or tax depreciation period has ended. The sale concerns what is genuinely being transferred now.
Gather photographs, available invoices and relevant comparisons. Distinguish asking prices in online advertisements from evidence of completed sales. Also compare equivalent circumstances. A working kitchen that remains usable in place offers a different practical benefit from a dismantled kitchen that needs collection, transport and adaptation. That difference can be relevant, but it does not justify an arbitrary premium.
Consider an illustrative German sale agreed at €480,000 in total. Following a review of their classification, the parties allocate €8,000 to the kitchen, €2,500 to freestanding furniture and €1,500 to garden equipment. The contents total €12,000, leaving €468,000 allocated to the property. These are assumed figures explaining the calculation, not a valuation of any particular kitchen or a recommended percentage for contents.
Test each amount separately. If the garden tools are worth less than first thought, do not move the difference into the kitchen entry simply to preserve a desired total. Specialist valuation may help with unusually valuable items. The property valuation and the valuation of movable contents need to fit together without counting the same value twice. Keep a brief explanation of why the agreed prices make sense.
Understand what the allocation changes for property transfer tax
German property transfer tax, Grunderwerbsteuer, generally applies to the consideration for acquiring the property. Section 8 GrEStG establishes the basis, while section 9 explains consideration. Genuine movable items outside the relevant legal definition of real property can be excluded from that basis. A line labelled inventory is not sufficient by itself: the items and allocation must reflect the actual transaction.
North Rhine-Westphalia has a statutory rate of 6.5 percent. In the simplified example, tax on an accepted property consideration of €468,000 would be €30,420. Tax on €480,000 would be €31,200. The €780 difference concerns property transfer tax; the buyer still pays the seller the agreed total of €480,000. The example assumes no additional consideration or other special circumstances.
There is no general entitlement to remove a chosen percentage of the house price without scrutiny. The Cologne Fiscal Court judgment of 8 November 2017, 5 K 2938/16, accepted an allocation involving particular used movable items, while explaining limits for artificial or economically inappropriate allocations. It should not be turned into a universal allowance.
The same judgment shows why missing original receipts do not automatically eliminate the possibility of establishing value. Photographs and other available evidence can matter. Do not invent documents or acquisition dates. Seller income tax, business equipment and the implications of a rented property require their own assessment. Treatment for property transfer tax does not establish that the seller's entire transaction is free of every tax.
Coordinate the contract, payment and the buyer's funding
A German property purchase agreement requires notarisation under section 311b BGB. Tell the notary about all agreed items and amounts. A private side agreement is not a reliable workaround when the contents sale and property purchase are intended to depend on each other. Ask the notary to assess the connection and determine the correct contractual form.
Check that the total price equals the property allocation plus the contents allocation. The agreement also needs to address when payment is due, when ownership of the movable items transfers and when the buyer receives them. Consider what should happen if handover is delayed, an appliance is damaged before transfer or the property purchase does not proceed. A price list alone cannot answer these questions.
The buyer should show the proposed allocation to their lender early. Whether movable items are financed or included in the lender's security assessment depends on the actual funding arrangement. Sellers should not promise unchanged mortgage terms or assume that the whole contents price will be covered. A potential tax difference is of limited use if an unresolved funding question disrupts payment.
Our guide to the notarised house purchase contract explains the wider contract preparation. Coordinate amendments before signing and send later proposed changes back to the notary for assessment of formal and tax implications. Keep the inventory supplied to the buyer, lender and notary consistent. Separate versions with different totals can undermine an otherwise straightforward sale.
Use the agreed list to complete a practical handover
At handover, work through the same numbered entries used for the contract. Confirm that the agreed items and accessories are present and note any changes since the recorded inspection. Identify discrepancies precisely and photograph relevant damage. A general statement that everything has been handed over does little to resolve a missing charger or a substituted appliance.
Provide available manuals, keys and item-specific documentation. Connected devices may contain personal accounts or stored information. Plan a suitable transfer or reset without sharing personal passwords. Check that removing your account will not unexpectedly remove a configuration needed for the buyer's use. These practical steps help make the contents genuinely usable after you leave.
If the dishwasher fails shortly before handover, tell the buyer promptly and record the issue. Whether repair, replacement, a price adjustment or another solution is appropriate depends on the agreement. Do not silently replace a listed appliance with a different one. Refer legally significant changes to the notary, and obtain legal advice if a dispute develops. Unagreed deductions from the property price can create further problems.
To discuss your sale, prepare the location, property type, intended timetable and an initial list of items you would like to leave. Use the house sale enquiry form to explain your situation to RICHTER Immobilien-Transaktionen. This provides a basis for discussing how the inventory fits the property offer. The notary handles the contractual structure and a tax adviser addresses individual tax questions, supported by the same clear and consistent information.
