GERMANY · GUIDE · CONTRACTS
Contracts, and how to get out of them
In your first month you will sign a phone contract, an internet contract and an electricity contract, probably without reading any of them. Germany used to lock people into deals like those for years at a time. That law changed, and the rules now are far easier to escape than the reputation suggests. Here is what you are signing, and how you leave.
Two years is the ceiling, not the norm
No standard consumer contract can tie you in for more than two years. Phone and internet can run for 24 months, but the provider has to offer you the same deal on a 12-month term as well. They will not point that out. Ask for it, and compare the two monthly prices before you sign anything.
In standard terms, a consumer contract for the regular supply of goods or services may not tie you in for longer than two years. Telecoms contracts — mobile, internet, landline — may run up to 24 months, and the provider must also offer you a version of the same contract with a term of no more than 12 months. Source ↗
The old trap is gone
It used to be that if you forgot to cancel in time, the contract renewed for another full year. That is over. A contract that renews now runs on an open basis, and you can end it whenever you like with one month's notice. So forgetting a date costs you a month rather than a year.
A German contract can no longer roll over into a second fixed year. If it renews automatically it must renew for an indefinite period, and you must be able to end it at any time with at most one month's notice. Standard terms that demand more than one month's notice before the first term runs out are ineffective. Source ↗
Once a phone or internet contract has passed its first term and continued automatically, you can end it at any time with one month's notice. Source ↗
If you signed up online, you cancel online
Any website that lets you sign up for something has to let you cancel there too. Look for a button that says “Verträge hier kündigen”, which the law requires to be easy to find. If a company has hidden it, or never built one, you can walk away whenever you like with no notice period at all. That is the penalty the law puts on them.
If you signed up for something on a website, that website must let you cancel on the website too. There has to be a button reading 'Verträge hier kündigen', and a confirmation button reading 'jetzt kündigen'. If a company has not provided them properly, you may cancel at any time without observing any notice period at all. Source ↗
An email counts. Keep the copy
Nobody can force you to send a signed letter to cancel. Text form is enough, and that includes email. Send it in writing rather than by phone anyway, put your contract or customer number in it, and keep a copy of what you sent. If there is ever an argument, it will be about what you sent and when.
An email is enough to cancel. Standard terms cannot demand anything stricter than text form from you — so a company may not insist on a handwritten signature, a fax or a registered letter. Send it in writing anyway, and keep a copy: what you need later is proof of what you sent and when. Source ↗
How a German letter is laid out →What the words on it mean →
Electricity signs you up whether you choose or not
The day you move in, somebody is already selling you electricity. If you have not picked a supplier, the local basic supplier takes you on automatically at its published prices, and that is a real contract you are really paying for. The good news is that it is the easiest contract in Germany to leave. Two weeks' notice, and you can move to anyone you like.
Electricity does not wait for you to choose. If you move in without picking a supplier, the local basic supplier (Grundversorger) supplies you automatically under its published general terms and general prices. That is a real contract, and you pay whatever those published prices are — so compare them against other offers rather than leaving it. Source ↗
Leaving the basic electricity supply is quick: two weeks' notice, and you can switch to any supplier you like. Source ↗
If a provider will not budge
Both are public bodies or non-profits, and neither pays us anything. No comparison site is named here on purpose, because every one of them takes a commission from the supplier you end up choosing.
We take no commission from any of these. They are simply where the listings are. Each link was opened and checked on the date below.
Where this guide stops
This page explains what you signed and when you can leave. It does not write your cancellation and it does not read your contract for you. A Kündigung has legal effect, and interpreting a contract is legal advice. For either of those the doors above are the right address, and several of them are free.
See where this sits in your move →This is not legal, tax, immigration, or financial advice, and not an official recognition, filing, or application. For decisions with legal or financial consequences, consult a qualified professional. Sources checked 2026-07-21.