Can My Landlord Enter the Apartment? (2026)

Can my landlord enter the apartment?

Short answer: not just like that. The moment you sign the Mietvertrag (rental contract), the apartment is yours to use exclusively, and the Hausrecht (the right to decide who may enter) passes fully to you. Your home is a protected space under Art. 13 GG (the constitutional inviolability of the home) and § 535 BGB – you alone decide who comes in. The landlord remains the owner but has no general right of access.

Entry is allowed only when two conditions hold together: there is a concrete reason, and the landlord has given timely Ankündigung (advance notice). If either is missing, you may refuse. This is not an unfriendly special privilege – it is the statutory default.

When may the landlord come at all?

The landlord needs a berechtigtes Interesse (legitimate interest) in entering. Typical reasons recognised by case law are:

• Repair and maintenance – fixing a defect, servicing the heating, urgent Instandsetzung (repair work).
• Ablesung (meter reading) – reading heat and water meters for the Nebenkostenabrechnung (annual operating-cost statement).
• Besichtigung (viewing) for a sale or re-letting – when the apartment is to be sold, or re-let after you have given notice, to show it to prospective buyers or tenants.
• Modernisierung (modernisation) / inspection before such work – to assess the scope of necessary measures.

What is not a reason: an anlasslose (reasonless) "control visit" just to look around and check that everything is in order. A blanket clause in the Mietvertrag granting the landlord a general or regular right of access is invalid.

What Ankündigung (notice) can you require?

There is no fixed deadline in any single paragraph – it comes from case law and depends on the reason. As a rough guide:

• Routine appointments (Besichtigung, Ablesung): usually around three to four days up to about two weeks of notice.
• Urgent repairs: shorter, sometimes 24 to 48 hours.
• A genuine emergency (e.g. burst pipe, smell of gas): no notice needed – here the landlord may enter at once, and if necessary without you.

Appointments should fall at reasonable times: weekdays at normal daytime hours, not on Sundays or public holidays and not in the middle of the night. You may move an announced appointment that does not suit you – but not block it indefinitely (see below).

What you must allow – and what you may refuse

Reason with a concrete ground (allow, after Ankündigung)	What you may refuse
Repair, maintenance, defect removal	Anlasslose (reasonless) "control visits" with no ground
Ablesung (meter reading) for the Nebenkostenabrechnung	Turning up unannounced without an emergency
Besichtigung for a planned sale or re-letting	Entering in your absence without your consent
Inspection before Modernisierung	Appointments on Sundays/holidays or at unreasonable hours
Genuine emergency (burst pipe, gas smell) – immediately	A key the landlord kept treated as a "right of access"

Achtung: Unannounced entry is verbotene Eigenmacht (unlawful self-help, § 858 BGB) and can be punishable as Hausfriedensbruch (criminal trespass, § 123 StGB) – you do not have to put up with it. Conversely, you may not refuse a legitimate, properly announced entry for a repair without good reason: you have a Duldungspflicht (duty to tolerate), and a tenant who persistently blocks access for defect removal risks Schadensersatz (damages) and, in extreme cases, even a fristlose Kündigung (termination without notice) by the landlord (BGH, VIII ZR 281/13).

Can the landlord keep a key?

No – not without your express consent. At handover the landlord must give you all keys, because only then can they provide you with the contractually owed use of the home (§ 535 BGB). If they keep a Zweitschlüssel (spare key) without your agreement, you can demand its return.

And even if you have agreed that they keep a key (for emergencies, say): the key alone gives them no right to enter. Even with a key the rule stands: only with a reason, only after Ankündigung, only with your agreement – except in a genuine emergency.

Step by step: how to respond correctly

1. Check the appointment – Is there a concrete reason, and was it announced in good time. Does the time work (weekday, reasonable).
2. For a legitimate appointment: cooperate – offer a suitable time. You need not be there in person, but can appoint a person you trust.
3. No reason or no notice: refuse politely – ideally in writing, citing your Hausrecht (Art. 13 GG, § 535 BGB).
4. Unannounced arrival: do not let them in – except in a genuine emergency. You are not obliged to open the door.
5. Document incidents – date, time, what happened; if Eigenmacht recurs, object in writing and, if needed, involve a Mieterverein (tenants' association) or a lawyer.

Common mistakes

• Accepting a blanket access clause – a general, reasonless right of access in the Mietvertrag is invalid; you need not observe it.
• Refusing every entry out of anger – you must tolerate legitimate, announced repair and maintenance appointments, or you face disadvantages (BGH, VIII ZR 281/13).
• Agreeing appointments only verbally – without a written trail you cannot prove what was announced if there is a dispute.
• Not clarifying the keys – at move-in confirm how many keys exist, and insist on receiving all of them.

Mit HausMaus geht das einfacher

With HausMaus you can arrange a viewing or repair appointment directly with your landlord through the built-in messaging – agreeing and documenting it in writing so you both have a provable record of the reason, date and time. You report repairs via "report an issue", which creates a dated record. In the free tenant rights toolkit, the "ask" assistant answers your questions about the right of access, and the document vault keeps your Mietvertrag and correspondence in one place. For tenants, HausMaus is free.

See pricing – 1 % of collected rent, free for tenants →