DoD guidance allows up to 60 days of TLA on arrival. Families read that number and plan around it. Then they arrive in the KMC and discover the local housing office runs a different clock — and the difference catches people every season.
The KMC clock: 30 days, reviewed every 10
The housing office here works to a 30-day arrival window, reviewed in 10-day increments. At each review you show that you are actively looking for permanent housing. The extension request must reach the housing management office before the 30 days are up — before, not on the day. Miss the window and the days simply end.
What counts as looking
The landlord contact worksheet: every property you viewed, its address, the rent, and why you did not take it. This document is your extension case. And the KMC fact sheet is blunt about what does not count: „Personal preference issues such as pets, furniture limitations, school districts, and size are NOT justification for an extension beyond 30 days.“
You can keep that record on our free TLA worksheet — it prints, and it has the landlord contact rows your housing office asks for.
The mistake that ends everything at once
Refusing available housing — government or economy — terminates your TLA. So does declining or postponing the loaner-furniture delivery, and so does a no-show for a scheduled FMS delivery. The termination is not a reduction; it is the end of the allowance, effective the first date the delivery could have happened.
Read that against the worksheet rule and the trap is visible: you must keep viewing houses to keep your TLA, but you cannot keep declining them for personal reasons without risking it. The way through is to view seriously and document honestly — and if nothing on the referral list genuinely works for your family, talk to us before you decline anything. We hold long-term rental properties in Bruchmühlbach-Miesau and Lambsborn with housing-approved leases, which means you can accept a house rather than refuse one. Your TLA ends the ordinary way — on the day your lease starts — and you have your home.
The ten departure days almost everyone forgets
At the other end of your tour, TLA covers up to 10 days after you vacate permanent quarters. It is a separate authorization from the arrival window. Families who burned every arrival day still have it — and it is routinely left unclaimed. We take over apartments from departing families and hand them to arriving ones; if your PCS-out date is set, ask us early.
No minimum stay, because the regulation has none
TLA stops on the day your lease begins, not at the end of a booking block. A provider with a 30-night minimum leaves you paying the remaining nights yourself — move into your own house on night 19 of a 30-night minimum and the last eleven nights are on you. We let you leave the day your lease starts.
Work out your own numbers
The calculator below uses the current DoD per diem rates and JTR Table 68-11 percentages. It shows what your family draws per day, what the lodging ceiling is, and what a stay costs you out of pocket.
Lodging is reimbursed against receipts, up to a ceiling, and any unused ceiling is forfeited. What you actually keep is below.
Meals & incidental expenses per day
$86.45
65% of the locality M&IE rate, paid without a receipt. Whatever you do not spend on food and incidentals is yours to keep.
- Your TLA lodging ceiling 100% of the locality lodging rate
- $229.00
- What we charge
- set at your ceiling - you pay nothing on top
- Out of pocket
- $0.00
- Rental car included, handed over at your apartment – a €50–€100/day cost you skip (our own estimate)
- Weekly cleaning included
- Pets free – the pet-friendly TLF on base charges $10.00 a day
- Final cleaning free
- Housing assistance & landlord worksheet – the paper trail your extension request needs
VAT forms for this stay: 3. One NF-1 covers up to 2.499,99 € net, which at this rate is about 12 nights (exchange rate 1 EUR = 1.08 USD, 2026-09-27). The first VAT form has to be with us within 7 days of check-in. Every further invoice needs its own form before that invoice is issued - VAT cannot be taken off afterwards. The cost of the form itself is a reimbursable lodging expense.
Plan ahead: the VAT Office issues no more than 10 NF-1 forms per household at the same time.
Locality rate: unchanged since 2026-09-01. Source: DTMO Maximum Per Diem Rates Outside CONUS, Change 727 (effective 2026-10-01). Percentages: DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 68, Table 68-11. Last verified 2026-09-29. This is an estimate. Your housing office and your finance office decide what is actually paid.
Prefer paper? Get the free TLA worksheet →
| What you compare | DODSC apartment | TLF on base | Hotel in the area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nightly rate | $229.00set at your ceiling, so nothing lands on you | $192.00Temporary Lodging Facility (all sizes) | $76.00–$140.00houses near the base |
| Out of pocket on lodgingmeasured against your ceiling of $229.00 | $0.00 | $0.00per night | $0.00per night at the top of the range |
| Rental car, 30 days | Included – $0.00handed over at your apartment | €50–€100 a dayour own estimate, see below | €50–€100 a dayour own estimate, see below |
| Pets | Free | $10.00 a day$300.00 over 30 days | Often refused |
| Weekly cleaning | Included | Room cleaning to their schedule | Room cleaning to their schedule |
| Final cleaning | Free | Not charged as standardbut their $150.00 "In-room smoking / excessive cleaning fee" can apply | Usually charged |
| Kitchen | Full kitchen | Kitchenette or none | None |
| Washer and dryer in the unit | Yes | Coin laundry | No |
| Parking | Free | Free | usually chargedno sourced figure, see below |
| Housing assistance and landlord worksheet | Yes, both | No | No |
| Minimum stay | No minimum stayyou check out the day your lease starts | Their booking terms apply | Their booking terms apply |
| What happens to your M&IE | Full kitchen and a car, so most of it stays with you | A kitchenette at best, so part of it goes on meals out | No kitchen, so most of it goes on meals out |
Rental car: €50–€100 a day is our own estimate, published in our own FAQ (retrieved 2026-09-27). It is not a market survey: on the same day, small cars in Ramstein started at €38 a day (Stress Free Car Rental, Ramstein pick-up). Hotel rates: $76.00–$140.00 a night, read on 2026-09-27 from hotels.com, Booking.com and Tripadvisor, houses in Ramstein-Miesenbach and Kaiserslautern. Those are the published nightly rates of individual houses, not an average - four rates do not make one. Hotel rates move daily and with the season, so this is a snapshot of the date above and not a quote. Hotel parking: usually charged, but we have no sourced figure for the Ramstein area, so we give none. On-base rates: 86 FSS Air Force Inns - Room Rates, Ramstein, checked 2026-09-29. Everything above is what the rate covers, not what your finance office will pay. Your housing office and your finance office decide.
Leave the day your lease starts. No minimum stay, no penalty. Your TLA ends when your permanent housing is ready – with us, so does your bill.
Your ceiling is set by regulation. Your apartment is not.
Answer within 2 hours.
May-September fills up early - if you have orders, write us now.
Common questions about TLA extensions
Is the 30-day window a DoD rule?
No — DoD guidance ordinarily allows up to 60 days on arrival. The 30-day window with 10-day reviews is how the KMC housing office administers it locally. Plan against the 30; treat anything past it as an extension you must earn, in writing, before the deadline.
Does a Non-Availability letter extend my TLA?
No. The letter affects how much lodging is reimbursed per night; it has nothing to do with how many days you are authorized. Different rule, different paperwork – we cover it in the Non-Availability letter at Ramstein.
Can I take a break between TLA periods?
The FMR allows a break between an initial TLA period and an additional authorized one (paragraph 4.4.4). What it does not allow is unclaimed days quietly rolling forward — each period is authorized on its own.
Sources
DoD FMR Volume 7A, Chapter 68 (January 2025 edition), Table 68-11 · Joint Travel Regulations, 1 September 2026 edition · DTMO Maximum Per Diem Rates Outside CONUS, Change 727 · KMC Housing Office TLA fact sheet. Rates last verified 27 September 2026. This is an estimate and general information, not a determination — your housing office and your finance office decide what is actually paid.
More on the numbers: mil-to-mil couples draw 65 % each, and a 30-night stay needs three VAT forms, not one.
Need TLA Housing Near Ramstein?
DODSC offers fully furnished TLA apartments near Ramstein Air Base — pet-friendly and family-ready.