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Let's suppose I move out of an apartment, how long do I have to deregister the apartment in Germany?

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Abmeldung? Only if you don't move within germany!

Bundesmeldegesetz § 17 (1) provides that you have to register within 14 days of moving into a flat. The Anmeldung only is for your claimed Erstwohnsitz (primary residence), of which you only can have a single one. Any additional apartment you own would be a Zweitwohnsitz (secondary residence) or holiday home, and can not be registered - you only can have one primary residence, and it determines where you get to vote in federal elections. Secondary residences have different tax regimes to holiday homes.

(2) notes that only if you don't move into a new home in Germany you can at all perform an Abmeldung. This is an obligation and can happen at the earliest 7 days before you move out and at the latest 14 days after you leave the apartment for the last time.

If you move to a different place in Germany, your new Anmeldung will trigger a letter to the previous Meldebehörde, telling them where you are now registred at this other location and allowing them to put a close on your entry. There is a reason for this bureaucratic process that might seem like madness on first blush: Only if you move within Germany and properly register the new location each time, the government can account for your central place of living. For example, the ID papers show that address, school planning uses the first residence of youths to plan, you federally vote where you are registered and nowhere else (so that you only have one federal voting slip). And also the courts can properly notify you of lawsuits by having your latest registered location looked up.

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  • what if you have multipile apartments? How do they know where to send?
    – Cathartic Encephalopathy
    Commented Jan 17 at 17:59
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    @trystwithfreedom, one would be registered as the primary residence (mostly for tax purposes).
    – o.m.
    Commented Jan 17 at 18:27
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    @trystwithfreedom you only have one Erstwohnsitz, where you are registered and have the Anmeldung. Anywhere else you are not registered, have no voting right but registered the apartment as Zweitwohnsitz (~secondary residence)
    – Trish
    Commented Jan 17 at 18:32
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    @user253751 Neither §17 or §19 BMG say anything about a 3 month exception where the landlord is not required to give you the form. Wohnungsgeberbestätigung | Deutschland - VermieterVerein e.V.: If a tenant moves into an apartment as a subtenant [Untermiete], this does not exempt him from the obligation to register under Section 17 BMG. Consequently, the tenant who moves into an apartment as a subtenant and possibly for a fixed period of time (interim rental [Zwischenmiete]) must still register with the registration authority.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Jan 18 at 9:10
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    @MarkJohnson addressed that in a short edit - I chose "madness" because of the bureaucratic mess that it is.
    – Trish
    Commented Jan 18 at 9:22

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