This article will try to cover almost everything about rent deposit insurances in Germany and is intended for expats or people who will move to Germany and rent an apartment or house. Since there are a lot of things to know about renting an apartment in Germany, this article will only focus on the single topic rent deposit insurances. If you are unfamiliar with rental deposits in general, you might want to read the article “How does a rent deposit (mietkaution) work in Germany” first.
When looking for a rental deposit solution in germany, one will often find insurances, which offer their service. It’s important to know the ins and outs of the offered services and if this would be financially useful or not.
Inhalt
What exactly is a rent deposit insurance?
The rent deposit insurance is a service offered by germany insurance companies, which may be used to facilitate the rental deposit. When using this insurance service, the tenant will pay a monthly or yearly fee, to the insurance. The insurance company will provide the deposit amount to the landlord in case of a damage of the leased apartment. Nonetheless, it’s important to notice that the tenant afterwards has to pay the the deposit amount to the insurance company, even though the service fee has been payed. So this kind of insurance should not be compared to a collision insurance, since it has another way of security.
A rent deposit insurance may be used, if the tenant does not have the money for the rental deposit, but requires a rental security for the landlord.
What does “Auf erstes Anfordern” or “Mieterschutz” actually mean?
Often times tenants and landlords will read certain terms within the terms and conditions. One would be “Auf erstes Anfordern”, which would mean that the landlord will get the deposit amount on first request. There will be no questions asked, the tenant won’t be asked if this request might be wrong.
The equivalent term “Mieterschutz” on the other hand does promise a tenant protection. In this case the landlord won’t get the money on the first request, the tenant will be informed and may intervene.
It’s important to know the different terms, when choosing an insurance, some landlords favor insurances without the tenant protection.
Why is a “Bonitätsauskunft” relevant, when comparing the different insurances?
Since the insurance will only be a service for the tenant, but the actual deposit amount has to be payed when there is a damage, all of the insurances will retrieve a credit report (Bonitätsauskunft). It may vary from which company the report is being asked for, usually in germany it will be either a company called Schufa or another one called Infoscore.
Both companies will provide a rating to the insurances, which will be used as a measurement when the tenant does apply for a rent deposit insurance.
Will a rent deposit insurance cover any damages on the rented apartment?
Now this is the most important part about the insurances: Usually the damage is not important to the insurance, the company will just pass the deposit amount of money to the landlord. Afterwards the tenant has to pay the amount back to the insurance company. So actually one has to state that no damage will be covered by the insurance.
In which situations is a rent deposit insurance useful?
Even though it might sound strange, there are a few use cases, where a rent deposit insurance is actually useful:
- The tenant moves to a different apartment, the previous deposit has not been dissolved yet and the new deposit has to be made – in this case a rent deposit insurance might be a good intermediate solution
- If the tenant truly does not have the money for the deposit, but is in need for the rental security. One might argue that a short term loan might be cheaper, in this case the loan usually comes with a predefined time period in which it has to be paid back
- When the expected time to rent the apartment will be very short, this might be a solution
Where may I compare different insurance companies as a tenant?
It’s worth noticing that not all of the insurances do have the same price. So this handy calculator will help you, when comparing the most popular insurances on the market in 2021:
- Sichere Bürgschaft durch die AXA Versicherung
- Günstigste Kautionsversicherung im Vergleich ab 3,9%
- Antrag & Kaution sind schnell, einfach und 100% digital
Bankbürgschaft
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 126,00 €
- Bei Nutzung eines DKB Girokonto seit mind. 6 Monaten
Mietkautionsbürgschaft
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 140,40 €
- ab 3,9% der Kautionssumme
- Komplett digital und nachhaltig
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 151,20 €
- Online-Sofortzusage direkt nach Antragstellung
- Bis zu 2 Jahre Zahlungspause bei betriebsbedingter Arbeitslosigkeit
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 158,40 €
- Vier Wochen Zeit für einen Einspruch (falls der Vermieter die Kaution anfordert)
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 169,20 €
- Gratis Schlüsselfinder und Gutschein für 6 Monate Haftpflichtversicherung
- Mieterschutz
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 169,20 €
- Mieterschutz
- Kostenlose Unterlagen für das Vermietergespräch
3 Jahre Mietdauer: 169,20 €
- Geld-zurück-Garantie
Rechtliche Hinweise: Der Vergleich bietet keinen kompletten Marktüberblick. Hauptrankingfaktor ist das Gesamtergebnis, welches anhand der Filtereinstellungen und den jeweiligen Produktkonditionen berechnet wird. Die Listung beginnt mit den größten Erträgen und endet mit den höchsten Kosten. Bei ertrags-/kostengleichen Produkten wird zusätzlich die Abschlussquote berücksichtigt. D. h. Produkte, die im Verhältnis zu den Aufrufen hier öfter gewählt werden, sind höher platziert.
Stand: 25.04.2024
Which alternatives are there to rent deposit insurances?
The whole topic about rental deposits is highly depending on the relationship between the tenant and the landlord. Usually the landlord will give a proposal on how to handle the rental deposit.
When the landlord is open to alternatives, one may as a tenant provide different options. If the landlord does not care much about the deposit, but only requires some kind of security it’s possible to choose from a variety of options.
These two popular options are often chosen from landlords and tenants when it comes to deposit the rent security. Growney is a stock based option, which will invest in ETF-funds, while also enabling the investment as a rental deposit. The DKB Cash deposit is a rental deposit account where the tenant actually has to deposit the required amount of money, which will be the security for the landlord.
Your benefits with the growney stock account as a rental deposit
Simply apply online
Fill out pledge declaration as PDF file
Ideal for longer-term tenancies
Comparatively high return on the deposit to be expected
Deposit set up within a short period of time
Easy to dissolve after tenancy or can still be used as an investment
Your benefits when using the DKB Cash deposit
Simply apply online
Request pledge declaration in online banking
Suitable also for short leases
Deposit set up within a short period of time
After tenancy easy to dissolve, money is transferred quickly
