Letting a flat with a fitted kitchen: inventory, repairs and rent calculations

Start with the benefit the kitchen offers your future tenant

A fitted kitchen can remove a significant obstacle to moving home. Someone relocating to Düsseldorf may prefer a flat where cooking and food storage are possible from the first day. Another applicant may already own appliances and want to install them. Before spending money, consider the flat's layout, the condition of its kitchen and the people likely to be interested. An expensive original purchase does not necessarily translate into useful equipment today.

Walk through the kitchen as a future occupant would. Can cupboard doors open properly, is there enough working space, and do the appliances fit the room? Check swollen edges, damaged seals, loose fittings and evidence of moisture. A clean appearance does not establish that a dishwasher works throughout a cycle. Equally, an older kitchen that remains practical and reliable does not automatically require wholesale replacement.

Establish ownership before making promises. Equipment installed by an outgoing tenant does not simply become the landlord's property because it remains in the flat. If you acquire it, document what is being transferred and on what terms. Separate the tenant's possessions from items that already belong to you. This prevents an awkward situation in which the advertisement promises an appliance that someone else is entitled to remove.

A kitchen does not by itself remove the usual protections of a German residential tenancy. The statutory conditions for any exception still need to be met. If you are also providing beds, wardrobes and other furniture, our guide to letting a furnished flat addresses the wider decision. Here the focus is the kitchen: what you provide, how it is maintained and how its cost affects your plans.

Choose between inclusion in the tenancy and a genuine alternative

When a kitchen is included in the tenancy, it forms part of the use the landlord promises. Under section 535 of the German Civil Code, or BGB, the landlord must generally maintain the agreed usable condition. Showing a separate kitchen component in the rent can improve transparency, but it does not remove that obligation. This arrangement suits an owner who intends to offer an equipped flat consistently between tenancies.

A genuine gratuitous loan, known as Leihe, is a different arrangement. Section 598 BGB defines it as use without payment. Section 601 BGB addresses ordinary preservation costs, among other matters. It does not create a universal rule requiring the occupant to buy a replacement whenever an appliance fails. The arrangement needs to address use, return, defects and whether replacement equipment will be supplied. Have the intended terms assessed before relying on them.

The heading on the document is not enough. Advertising a fully equipped rental flat, collecting a kitchen charge and describing the same kitchen as a free loan creates contradictions. Review the advertisement and the contract together. Standard terms are subject to controls including section 307 BGB. Placing a sweeping repair exclusion in a separate document does not automatically make it effective.

A genuine sale instead involves transferring ownership of identified items to the buyer. The price, condition, handover and transfer arrangements should reflect that transaction. Where buying inventory is connected with obtaining a residential tenancy, section 4a of the German Housing Brokerage Act restricts a price grossly disproportionate to its value. Selling a used kitchen is therefore not an unrestricted way to add an entry fee for the flat.

Create an inventory that will still be useful years later

“Fitted kitchen provided” is too vague for a useful inventory. List the base and wall units, worktop, sink, tap and each appliance. Manufacturer, model and serial number help a repair company identify parts later. Record the purchase year and installation date where these are known. If the age is uncertain, say so; an estimate based on appearance should not become an apparently verified fact in the paperwork.

Describe condition precisely. “Oven heats up; seal damaged at the lower corner” is more informative than “used oven”. Take an overall photograph and additional images of identification plates and existing damage. Connect them to a dated inventory so that both parties know what they show. Keep invoices and technical documents separately. Private belongings of current occupants should not appear in publicly used marketing photographs.

Check functions before handover and record the limits of the check. A lit display is not evidence of a completed wash programme. If there are doubts about water connections, electrical behaviour or safe operation, arrange an appropriate professional inspection. Do not turn a simple handover checklist into an unsupported assertion that all technical safety requirements have been certified. Record unresolved points and who will address them.

Small accessories matter too. Include shelves, oven trays, racks, filters and available operating instructions. Identify appliances supplied by the new tenant as their property. When you replace a dishwasher during the tenancy, update the record with its installation date and model. At the end of the tenancy, the inventory should distinguish the landlord's replacement from the original appliance and from anything the tenant bought independently.

Make the agreement and the payment breakdown understandable

The tenancy agreement and inventory attachment should identify the equipment included. Match these documents to the advertisement and the promises made during viewings. If an existing fridge will be removed before occupation, explain this early. Discovering on moving day that a key appliance was never included can undermine the usefulness of the flat. Record outstanding work, the responsible person and the agreed arrangements for completion.

Distinguish net rent, including any separately identified kitchen element, from operating cost advances. The German term Nettokaltmiete means rent before operating costs. A reserve you maintain for a future cooker replacement belongs in your own financial planning. It is not an additional operating cost that can simply be recovered through the annual service charge account. Section 1(2) of the Operating Costs Ordinance excludes maintenance and repair expenditure from operating costs.

Set out a practical reporting process. The tenant needs to know where to report a defect, who arranges a contractor and how access will be agreed. Work involving electrical or water connections should be handled by suitable professionals. Supply instructions for normal cleaning and care. Looking after a filter is a different issue from responsibility for a technical failure; vague wording should not merge the two.

If the tenant wants to install an appliance they already own, agree what happens to yours before it is removed. Consider storage, protection against damage and what must be restored on departure. Also establish whether the promised equipment or rent is being changed. Physical removal alone is an unreliable basis for deciding those questions. A clear supplementary agreement is more useful than a series of inconsistent informal messages.

Handle a breakdown according to its cause and urgency

If an included oven fails through ordinary wear, maintaining the agreed kitchen is generally the landlord's responsibility. Section 538 BGB protects tenants from liability for deterioration caused by contractual use. A culpably caused breakage can be different, but a cracked hob alone does not establish who caused it or how. Record the condition and obtain a technical assessment where the cause is unclear.

Under section 536c BGB, defects arising during the tenancy must be reported without undue delay. Ask for useful facts: which appliance is affected, when the problem began and whether there is leaking water, an unusual smell or an error message. Equipment presenting an obvious danger should not continue to be used. Agree appropriate immediate steps without expecting the tenant to attempt hazardous repairs.

A minor repair clause is not comprehensive appliance cover paid for by the tenant. It must be valid and actually apply to the component and circumstances concerned. Avoid presenting a particular euro figure as a universal statutory limit. For a significant breakdown, arrange the response and establish the allocation of costs through the contract, the cause and any necessary legal assessment.

A substantial loss of agreed use may engage the tenant's rights under section 536 BGB. There is no single rent reduction percentage for every failed dishwasher. Nor should either side assume that any independently purchased replacement must be reimbursed. Section 536a(2) sets conditions for recovery of self-remedy expenditure, including landlord default or necessary immediate action to preserve the property. Prompt replies and documented appointments help resolve the practical problem.

Separate an investment calculation from a rent entitlement

Consider an illustrative kitchen costing €6,000 including installation. For your internal calculation, assume 120 months of use and a residual value of €600. The amount to allocate is €5,400, or €45 per month. Add an assumed repair reserve of €15 per month and the planning figure becomes €60. This provides a clear explanation of your assumptions; it does not establish that a tenant can legally be charged that amount on top of any other rent.

The 120 months are a planning assumption, not a guaranteed lifespan or a statement of German tax depreciation rules. The €15 reserve is likewise not a contractor's forecast. Financing, tax, vacancy and your own administration time have not been included. For an existing used kitchen, consider its current condition, likely remaining service and upcoming work. The original new purchase price alone does not describe the value of its present use.

Check cash availability as well as monthly averages. Twelve monthly reserve contributions of €15 produce €180. If a repair then costs €450, another €270 must come from other available funds. A balanced spreadsheet therefore does not remove the need for money when a breakdown occurs. Several ageing appliances can make a separate financial buffer particularly useful.

For presenting payments, a further illustrative calculation might show €780 for the flat and €60 for the kitchen, giving €840 net rent. With assumed operating cost advances of €200, the initial monthly payment would be €1,040; separate personal utility contracts may add further expenditure. These are invented examples, not Düsseldorf market figures. Whether €840 is lawful and achievable needs its own assessment before the property is advertised.

Reaching the end of your assumed calculation period does not automatically end a contractually agreed kitchen charge. The valid tenancy terms and any subsequent changes remain decisive. Check any specific time limit or agreed reduction: recovering your investment and determining the rent payable are separate questions.

Check the total rent against the property's German location

Your own expenditure does not create a right to recover a particular monthly figure. Where Germany's initial rent restriction, the Mietpreisbremse, applies, section 556d BGB generally limits the starting rent to ten per cent above the local comparable rent. Exceptions and special circumstances require a separate assessment. In NRW, the current state tenant protection regulation identifies the relevant areas. Check the actual location and the rules applicable when the contract is concluded.

Equipment is one of the comparison criteria in section 558(2) BGB. Establish how the kitchen is reflected in the comparable rent and whether the properties used for comparison already contain kitchens. Avoid counting the same amenity twice in your reasoning. Printing the kitchen element on a separate line does not automatically make the combined amount lawful. There is no universally applicable statutory percentage of the kitchen's purchase price that can always be added.

For Düsseldorf, the local rent reference publication is a relevant starting point; read its current explanations of scope and equipment. Its figures should not be transferred to another NRW municipality. Likewise, a premium new installation is not a direct comparison for an ordinary used kitchen. Our guide to calculating a rental price considers the flat as a whole.

If relying on previous rent, modernisation or a statutory exception, check both the substantive conditions and any advance information required by section 556g BGB. A German tenancy lawyer should assess uncertain arrangements. A tax adviser is the appropriate professional for the tax treatment of the purchase. Tax depreciation does not establish a permitted rent supplement or determine the repair rights under a tenancy.

Connect the advertisement, handover and eventual return

Describe the actual benefit in the listing: usable working space, identified appliances and a clear handover condition. Use current photographs and explain relevant limitations. “Fitted kitchen included” should not turn out to mean that essential appliances are broken or available only through an additional purchase. Clear information helps applicants decide and reduces viewings based on mistaken expectations.

During discussions, ask whether applicants have their own appliances and whether the proposed kitchen suits their needs. Keep these equipment questions distinct from the general tenant selection process. Our guide to finding suitable tenants covers the wider letting process. A preference for bringing a dishwasher is first a practical question about installation and ownership, not a reason to make assumptions about the applicant.

At handover, inspect the inventory together, record existing defects and provide both parties with a copy. Agree how unfinished work will be dealt with. At the end of the tenancy, compare the kitchen with that starting point and the subsequent updates. Ordinary wear does not automatically justify charging for a new kitchen. Where actual damage exists, causation and the recoverable amount require assessment; do not simply demand the new price of a better replacement.

If you are deciding whether to keep, replace or offer the kitchen under a different arrangement, use our landlord enquiry form to describe your property. Its location, floor area, kitchen age, known defects and intended letting date provide a useful starting point for discussing marketing. Special contract terms belong with tenancy legal advice, technical doubts with a qualified contractor and tax questions with a tax adviser.