During the week Florian lives at his place of work; he spends many days off with his family in another municipality. Among his acquaintances he receives two simple answers: what matters is always the majority of nights or always the family. For the classification of the Austrian main residence he nevertheless needs an overall consideration of his actual life relationships.
A residence is first of all an actual point of attachment
§ 1 Absatz 6 Meldegesetz describes a residence by establishing oneself at an accommodation with the intention of having a point of attachment for life relationships there until further notice. For the main residence Absatz 7 goes on: this accommodation should be made the centre of life relationships. If the factual requirements apply to several residences on an overall consideration, the one with the predominant close relationship is to be designated. [MITTE]
That does not merely compare a contractual name. An existing tenancy agreement and an everyday life actually led there are different pieces of information. Likewise the former designation of an address does not yet explain whether the living conditions have remained unchanged.
Florian describes an ordinary week and an ordinary year
As his own preparation Florian notes his stays, commuting routes and his regular ties. He adds where his family life takes place and which changes have actually already occurred. In doing so he distinguishes the current state from a merely desired later move.
The law names for the centre in particular duration of stay, location of work or education, the starting point of the respective trips, residence and activity of the other family members as well as functions in public and private bodies. [MITTE] A single one of these pieces of information is not declared here to be the always decisive rule.
A helpful overview therefore does not have a self-created points scale. It places the facts side by side. "Three points for work, four for family" would pretend an accuracy that this own aide-memoire cannot deliver. In an unclear constellation Florian submits the actual overview to the competent authority for classification.
A changed life phase also changes the question
In the fictional case the activity at the previous place of work ends later. Florian temporarily keeps the flat but uses it differently. The old weekly overview is now no reliable description of current life any more. He therefore first updates the facts and then clarifies the appropriate registration procedure.
The decisive progress is not the most elegant justification for his favourite address. It is the ability to explain the actual change understandably: since when, which accommodation, which use and which continuing ties.
What this classification does not also accomplish
This article deals with the registration law concept under Austrian law. It does not calculate tax residency, decide any entitlement to benefits or confirm any building-law use. Such questions are not answered with a cross on the same form, but are pursued as separate points of the concrete case.
For this one question the working result intentionally remains focused: a temporally current, comprehensible description of one’s own life relationships, without an invented nights formula or a blanket family rule.