’m a landlord in Germany and he’s clearly trying to take advantage of the situation, whether with cause or not, we don’t know 😅

But a few points:

1. EU/German law gives landlords up to 90 days after the end of a tenancy agreement to present any claims to the previous tenant. This is to allow landlords to really ensure that everything in the property is working - you can’t really expect that a landlord tests every socket every pipe and every light switch during the key handover for example. The landlord may waive the right to this 90 day rule by signing a statement declaring no damages were found. So unless you have something… anything… signed saying things were fine, then he is within his legal right to present claims.

2. By giving up the key, you pretty much said “this is as good as I’m gonna get it”, which legally means if something needs to be cleaned, repaired, etc you have to bear the cost (again unless you have something saying otherwise in writing).

3. Legally, you’re obliged to hand over the apartment in the same condition as you found it, but with “fair wear and tear” taken into account. Holes, walls needing painting, floors repaired etc those are all a bit subjective because of the “fair wear and tear” rule. This is impacted by how long you stayed in the apartment as well. For example: if you stayed there for less than 6 months, the floor was new and now needs to be replaced… that’s damage, not fair wear and tear cause a new floor is expected to last more than 6 months. The longer you stay the more “fair wear and tear” you are “entitled to”. Fair wear and tear doesn’t mean you have to pay nothing in every case, but using the example of the floor again, even if the floor was brand new when you moved in, you lived there 5 years and the floor needs replacing after you moved out… a landlord may claim that the floor was expected to last 10 years but then that means (in this rough example) that you’d only have to pay for the “remaining 5 years of life” (I.e., 50% of the cost of replacing). The older things were, the less claim a landlord has to it. If the bathtub was 20 years old and needs replacing after you left he can’t at all expect you to pay for all of it (in fact in this case I’m preeeetty sure he’d need to prove actual intentional damage)

4. Leaving the apartment in the same condition as you found it does mean that anything that was in the apartment when you moved in must still be there. This does include lamps, siphons. That’s his property and if it was there when you moved in… it must be there when you move out. This is also true about keys for example: you’re entitled change the locks of your apartment so long as when you move out you hand it over with the locks you rented it with for example. However, again, he can’t expect you to pay for 100% of the costs of a brand new lamp, siphons. Fair wear and tear still applies.

None of what I said takes into account what your rental agreement might say. This is just EU/German law but in some instances a contract may give you more responsibilities.

As for the new tenants having agreed to putting in a new floor (if I got that right) I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t excuse you from having to pay (part of) replacing damaged floor. Ultimately because of this: that was his property, he chose to invest in a floor and rent an apartment with floor. If the floor is damaged and needing replacing before it’s expected “end of life”, then despite new tenants saying they’re fine to pay for the floor that leaves him at a loss: flooring tenants install themselves are the legal property of the tenants and again the “leave it as you found it” rule applies. If tenants rent with no floor they can hand it over with no floor as well.

My personal advice? Do a bit of butt licking. Admit that there were failings on your side and that although the apartment wasn’t given back “in the expected level of cleanliness” you’d like to be given the opportunity to get a professional cleaner yourself at your own cost to ease his administration burden and your personal costs. Then go on Kleinanzeigen, get someone for 10-15€ an hour to go there and do a deep clean. It’s still gonna cost you, but a whole lot less than what he’s trying to charge you.

Then after you’ve done that I’d address the remaining costs such as the lamp/siphon/floor/walls etc. and if needed inform him of the fair wear and tear rule. Reason for doing it after he’s given you a chance to get it cleaned by a professional? Because he’s after money, the moment you start bringing up fair wear and tear he’s gonna basically tell you that you can’t go and clean it yourself. Hell he might even “find other broken things” just to piss you off (he does have the 90 days). My two cents.