Feierabend

  Happy End is my favourite brand of bog roll, John!    My children sadly drive with the bus when they want to meet themselves. Brought up in our totally English speaking household. Sigh.

  Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.   (With apologies to dogs.)

  We should be so lucky! General federal taxes are the same. We pay the Soli.  Of course local and business taxes may vary. And incomes are still on average lower in the new Bundesländer so lower tax revenues. Though the Soli was envisaged as a tax to support the rebuilding of the former East, I believe that only around 30% of it is used directly for this. It is not ring-fenced and its basically has become just another tax on everybody.

   However, from same report ... ... "From a continental perspective, 54.4% of UK exports by value were delivered to other European trade partners .. "

Looks like you can buy them directly from the site Robinson posted. What's the problem with that?   Hmm, the poor people in Grenfell Towers followed the strict instructions to stay put in their flats.  Hope German blocks are better built with properly functioning fire safety features.

Something to bear in mind - bereavement triggers all sorts of thoughts, feelings, longings for past times, the places of childhood. It can give you insight into what is important for you, but the acute grieving period is not the best time to make life-changing decisions. Yes, places are never the same as in fond memories from the past. My friends and family in the UK are deeply unhappy about the prevailing politics, local services that have been decimated by austerity cuts, nasty insular attitudes towards foreigners, the horrendous housing costs. Yet it is still a wonderful place in so many ways ... My tendency would be to wait and see, go for your new job and give it your best, make a wholehearted attempt to learn German well and join in with society. A couple of years on and we'll have a clearer idea of the Brexit ramifications. Join in with things you like doing, don't just rely on your bf for your social life. Now does not seem to me to be a good time to go back. But ultimateely you must trust your feelings and put your energy into making whatever decision you make work for you. Re. citizenship - if you can get Irish by descent, go for it. It's a straightforward process. You can still then go for dual nationality under EU rules without feeling pressurised by Brexit deadlines. All the best x

Thank you dear Panda! I always learn something from you! I had no idea about this extra allowance which I have just looked up.   We've decided in the end we'll probably do things through a Notar, both for peace of mind and to spare the kids the eventual cost of the Erbschein which comes out as a similar sum.

Berliner Testament inheritance tax question -   Say the jointly owned assets are €600,000. When spouse no.1 dies, does spouse no. 2 pay tax on the whole 100,000 over the tax free limit, or only on 50% of it? (After all, you are not inheriting your own share!)  

  There is an inaccuracy in this article: "Realtor fee (Maklerprovision): €14,600 (about 3.57% – that’s currently the max fee they can charge – the realtor decides the fee.  The buyer pays the fee, not the seller.)" The normal unholy Maklerprovision is more like 6.5/7% plus MwSt which the buyer pays unless they negotiate a split with the seller. It's one of the factors that makes moving extremely expensive, as there is little incentive for the seller to sell independently. 

  Let's not get muddled here!   Most people are anxious to have everything completed by March 2019, so that they can keep their British citizenship under the current EU dual nationality laws of reciprocality. The draft above clarifies that these rights would continue during a transition period and applications could be placed right up to the Dec 2020 deadline. After that  applications can continue to be processed and dual citizenship be confirmed after that date. Should there be a crash out on 19th March there would be no transition period. We can still apply for German citizenship like anyone else but wthout the right to be a dual national. (Unless some other reciprocal agreement were put into place I suppose.)  It seems to me that the German government is being quite fair and reasonable in its preparations. Unlike "our" crew of self-obsessed morons.

The next slogan to appear on The Bus -   "DIG FOR BRITAIN!"   (Should solve the obesity problem too.)

My post was to point out a legal, risk free way to keep control of one's own property, for those for whom this is important and who dislike risk and worry.  No moral judgements were made either way.  

  However, this would surely be the only completely legal, risk-free way of having the use of your own (second) property for your personal use without any obligation to let it? Using a handy family member or friend to register where they don't actually live is illegal and subject to hefty fines. The 15% tax would be, as I understand it, based on the cold rental value (obtained from the local Mietspiegel if the property has not been previously let). So, say the rental was 500 pm, that would lead to a tax of 75 pm. Price of a clear conscience?!

Couldn't the owner of a property who doesn't want to let it, simply register it as a Zweit- or  Nebenwohnung (second home) and pay the Zweitwohnungssteuer?

Here are various links to articles on this issue: https://www.berliner-mieterverein.de/recht/infoblaetter/info-115-zweckentfremdung-von-wohnraum-zweckentfremdungsverbot-gesetz.htm   https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2018/03/berlin-zweckentfremdungsverbot-ferienwohnungen-betreutes-wohnen-leerstand.html   https://www.immobilienscout24.de/eigentuemer/news/2018/1/neuerungen-im-zweckentfremdungsverbot-untervermietung-an-touristen.html   Hmm... I wasn't aware of this either. - I wonder how they could prove that a property was left empty for speculative purposes, or is simply 3 months without an occupier sufficient "proof" of this intention? - Do they go after owners of just one flat, or are they mainly interested in the ones that leave whole blocks empty for long periods of time? - In all the articles above they refer to the obligations of the Vermieter (landlord). Does one automatically become a "landlord" just by the fact of owning a property? - I came across what seems to be an anomaly, in that a tenant may leave their flat unoccupied for indefinite amounts of time, as long as they meet their rental and maintenance obligations.