The first 72 hours in a Luxembourg apartment, in the order that matters

The day you collect the keys is the day you are least able to concentrate and the day on which the most consequential document of the tenancy is produced. A short fixed sequence protects you from your own tiredness.

Hour one: the inventory, before anything comes through the door

The état des lieux d'entrée has to be done with the apartment empty. Once boxes are against the walls, half the surfaces cannot be inspected and the document stops functioning as a comparison. Allow ninety minutes and do not accept a fifteen-minute walkthrough.

Room by room: walls, ceilings, skirting, doors and frames; floors, and parquet in particular, since refinishing is among the largest deductions landlords claim; every window and every roller shutter opened and closed; silicone joints, grout and the seal around the shower tray; and in a furnished letting, every appliance run and every item of furniture described with its existing wear.

Describe marks in words as well as photographs. "Scratch, 8 cm, left of window, bedroom 2" is evidence. "Some marks" is not. This is the document your rental guarantee, capped at two months' rent, is judged against when you leave, and the return now follows a statutory procedure with deadlines rather than goodwill.

Hour two: meters, keys and access

Record the serial number and full index of every meter: electricity, gas, water, and any heat-cost allocators. Where the electricity installation is on a dual tariff, record both registers, since the meter separates a daytime period from 06:00 to 22:00 and a night period from 22:00 to 06:00 and a single figure is not enough.

Photograph each meter twice, once wide to show where it sits and once close to show the numbers. A cropped photograph of digits proves nothing about which meter it was. Attach all of it to the inventory rather than leaving it in a phone gallery.

Then count the access devices in front of the other party and have the number written on the document: apartment keys, building key or badge, letterbox key, cave key, bicycle store, parking remote. Missing devices are one of the few deductions a landlord can justify with a real invoice, because reprogramming a building's access system is genuinely expensive.

Hour three: the cave and the parking space

Ask to be taken to the cellar rather than told it exists, and bring a torch, because cellar lighting in older Luxembourg buildings is frequently on a timer and inadequate. Confirm which cave belongs to the apartment, that it is numbered, and that it is empty. A cave still holding the previous tenant's belongings becomes your problem to resolve.

Check the base of the walls for salt bloom or a tide mark, which tells you whether the space will store anything made of cardboard, fabric or paper. Measure it, because this is where bicycles, suitcases and winter tyres have to live, and many Luxembourg buildings prohibit storing tyres or bicycles in an underground parking space for fire-safety reasons.

Day one, afternoon: the three things that make the flat function

• Your name on the letterbox and the entryphone. Significant documents in Luxembourg arrive by post, including confirmation of your social security affiliation and your tax card, and a formal notification from a landlord must be sent by registered letter.
• An energy supply contract. The network operator and the supplier are separate entities here, and switching supplier requires no change to the meter or the installation. Default supply is regulated but priced above ordinary contract tariffs, so leaving it unresolved is a quiet cost.
• Beds. Everything else can wait a week. Sleep cannot, and every subsequent decision is made worse by not having had any.

Day two: the building, and how it works

Find the waste arrangement. Luxembourg communes operate separated collection with specific bins, specific days and, in many communes, an annual calendar, and the building has its own arrangement layered on top. Get both from the syndic or the outgoing tenant rather than deducing them over two months, because incorrect sorting can mean a bin is not collected, which affects every household in the building.

Get the syndic's name and emergency number. In an apartment building a surprising share of what goes wrong is a common-part matter rather than a landlord one: the lift, the entrance, the cellar corridors, the roof, and the heating plant where it is collective.

Ask for the building rules if you have not already seen them. Most leases bind the tenant to respect the règlement de copropriété and any règlement d'ordre intérieur, which means you have agreed to a document you may never have been shown. Pets, subletting, balconies, works and bicycle storage are the five areas that matter.

Day three: the checks that are easier now than later

Run the hot tap and the shower together to test pressure, which is the most common post-move complaint we hear. Bleed the radiators. Test every socket. Open every window and every shutter once. Check that the extractors in the bathroom and kitchen actually work, because a well-sealed apartment without ventilation develops condensation, and condensation recorded in week one is a maintenance question while the same problem found at the exit inspection is an argument about your deposit.

Anything that does not work should be reported in writing that week, with photographs. A defect raised on day three is the landlord's or the syndic's; the same defect raised in month eleven is a conversation about who caused it.

Three questions we are asked

Nobody offered me an entry inventory. What now? Write your own within the first days, with dated photographs, and send it to the landlord or agent by registered letter, or at minimum by email, asking them to confirm or contest it. A unilateral record that was sent and not disputed is considerably better than nothing.

The landlord wants to do the inventory after I move in. Is that acceptable? No. Insist on an empty property. An inventory taken around furniture cannot serve as a comparison, and it is your protection rather than the landlord's.

What if I find a problem after the inventory is signed? Report it immediately in writing with photographs. The signed document is strong evidence but it is not the only evidence, and a defect notified in the first days carries very different weight from one raised at the end.

What to have with you on the day

A short kit removes most of the friction of the first seventy-two hours, and it fits in one bag.

A tape measure and a phone torch, for the cave, the boiler cupboard and the back of kitchen units, which are the three places where problems are visible and never photographed. A printed copy of the lease and, if you have it, the previous inventory. A power bank, because the day is spent photographing. Basic tools, a set of adhesive hooks, and bin bags. Cleaning materials and toilet paper, since neither will be there.

Two documents rather than objects: the identity papers you will need at the commune, and the contents insurance certificate if the landlord has asked for it at handover. Both are frequently in a box on a lorry at exactly the moment they are requested.

The week-one deadline running behind all of this

Anyone establishing habitual residence in Luxembourg must declare their arrival at the population office of their commune within eight days, and third-country nationals must register within three working days of arriving on the territory. Where you are moving between Luxembourg communes, the same eight-day rule runs from the day you occupy the new residence, and the new commune handles the deregistration from the old one.

The commune registration is the pivot for everything downstream, including your entry in the national register, the address administrations read from, and the resident parking permit if you need one. Bring a valid identity card or passport and proof of accommodation, which is normally the lease. Communal practice varies, so check your own commune's requirements rather than a general guide.