Home Contents Insurance in Germany
Protect Your Home as an Expat
Home contents insurance (Hausratversicherung) replaces your movable belongings if they are damaged by fire, water, burglary or storm. This guide explains in plain English what it covers, how it differs from liability and building insurance, and what you should look out for as a newcomer to Germany.
The key facts
- Contents insurance replaces your belongings after fire, tap water, burglary, and storm or hail.
- It is not mandatory but sensible for tenants, and it replaces neither liability nor building insurance.
- You usually set the sum insured with the square-metre model, commonly around 650 euros per square metre.
- As an expat you usually need no Schufa, but the contract is normally in German and paid by SEPA direct debit.
Last updated: 6 June 2026 | Reading time: approx. 8 minutes
What to expect
What is home contents insurance?
Home contents insurance covers your movable belongings inside the home, basically everything you would take with you when you move: furniture, electronics, clothing, kitchen appliances and valuables. It pays out when these items are damaged, destroyed or stolen through an insured event. Unlike building insurance, it does not protect the property itself, only what stands inside it.
In Germany, home contents insurance is not legally required. It becomes worthwhile once the replacement value of your belongings is higher than what you could afford to replace from your own pocket. If you have just furnished a flat and bought an expensive coffee machine, a laptop and a bike, you quickly reach several thousand euros, a loss that would hit hard after a flat fire or burglary.
Remember: Contents are everything movable in your flat. Fixed parts such as walls, heating or a fitted kitchen belong to the building and therefore to the owner's building insurance, not to your contents policy.
Contents, building or liability?
Three insurances are constantly mixed up, especially by newcomers. Yet they cover completely different risks. Understanding this distinction is the most important basis before you sign any contract.
Contents insurance
Protects your movable belongings inside the flat. Useful for tenants and owners alike.
Building insurance
Protects the building itself. Only owners need it, the landlord takes care of it, not the tenant.
Private liability
Pays when you cause damage to others, e.g. water in the neighbour's flat. Strongly recommended for everyone.
| Insurance | What it protects | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Contents (Hausrat) | Furniture, electronics, clothing, valuables | Tenants and owners |
| Building (Wohngebäude) | Walls, roof, heating, fixed installations | Owners only |
| Liability (Haftpflicht) | Damage you cause to third parties | Recommended for everyone |
As a tenant, two contracts matter most: contents insurance for your belongings and private liability insurance for damage you cause to others. You do not need building insurance as a tenant.
What is covered, and what is not?
A standard contents policy covers a fixed list of perils. Some important risks, however, are only covered as an add-on. According to the German consumer association Verbraucherzentrale, the rough split is as follows:
Covered as standard
- Fire, lightning and explosion
- Tap water from pipes and plumbing
- Burglary, robbery and vandalism after a break-in
- Storm (usually from wind force 8) and hail
Add-on only (optional)
- Natural hazards (flooding, heavy rain, earthquake)
- Bicycle theft away from home
- Glass breakage and surge damage from lightning
- Gross negligence without payout reduction
Important for flood-prone areas: Damage from heavy rain or flooding is usually not included in a standard policy. You need the natural-hazard add-on (Elementarschutz) for that. Our building and home insurance comparison explains how the related building cover works.
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Sum insured and underinsurance
The sum insured is the maximum amount the insurer pays in a claim. If it is set too low, you risk so-called underinsurance: the insurer then only reimburses a proportional amount, even for a small loss. If only 50 percent of the actual value is insured, you only get half of your loss reimbursed.
To prevent this, most tariffs use the square-metre model. A fixed amount is applied per square metre of living space, according to Finanztip usually around 650 euros. If you state your living area correctly, the insurer waives the underinsurance check in return. This Unterversicherungsverzicht means your loss is reimbursed in full up to the sum insured, with no proportional cut.
Example: a 70 m² flat
For a living area of 70 square metres and a rate of 650 euros per square metre, the sum insured comes to 45,500 euros (70 × 650 euros). If you state the 70 square metres correctly, the underinsurance waiver applies and your contents are covered up to that sum with no deduction.
Example figure for illustration. The exact value per square metre can vary by insurer.
Good to know: Contents insurance pays the replacement value (Neuwert), i.e. the price of an equivalent new item, not the depreciated current value. Only for items that have already lost more than 60 percent of their replacement value is the lower current value (Zeitwert) usually reimbursed.
How much does it cost?
The premium depends mainly on your location, living area, sum insured and chosen add-ons. As a rough guide, home contents insurance often costs between roughly 30 and 100 euros per year. It is usually more expensive in big cities than in rural areas, because the burglary risk is rated differently.
Saving tip
Comparing contents and liability cover instead of taking the first tariff can often save several dozen euros a year. You can optimise your energy contract in parallel, too: a look at English-speaking electricity providers brings a second saving effect in the household.
What expats should watch out for
If you have not been in Germany for long, a few practical points make signing up easier or help you avoid pitfalls.
New to Germany? For an overview of the key policies when you arrive, see our guide for newcomers. To learn which insurances are actually mandatory, read the article on compulsory insurance for expats.
For expats and newcomers
The German insurance system feels confusing at first, and terms like Hausrat, underinsurance or Wohngebäude are hard to place without prior knowledge. The most important rule is simple: contents insurance protects your things, liability insurance protects you from damage you cause to others.
meinetarife24 explains these topics in German, English and Turkish so you can make an informed decision, even if German is not your native language.
Frequently asked questions
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