How To Get The Right Flat in Berlin
Finding a place to stay in our city isn’t the easiest task, but here is all you need to know to get one as soon as possible ;)
Where to look?
There are plenty of sites to choose from, but the 2 most useful ones are wg-gesucht and immoscout
Focus on apartments
Website only in German
Many listings from agents with fees
Biggest userbase
Focus on flatshares
Interim lets
Apartments
Webiste in english
Usually no fees
Another way would be to check and contact housing companies directly. They own hundreds of buildings and have always some availability.
Whichever service you choose to find an apartment, if you are not able to go the viewings (when you move to Berlin from far away or another country) it would be better get a short-term accommodation first and then look for something permanent while already here. Many listings require you to provide paperwork to secure an apartment and it can also take quite some time to find something fitting.
The new trend for Students / Mid-term visitors
If you are coming here for just a few months or a year, it’s probably not worth the hassle to find a conventional flat or flatshare. But the new trend of furnished mid-term lodging comes of course with a higher monthly price tag.
Furnished rooms: spotathome, airbnb
Student apartment complexes: smartments, house of nation, spreepolis, neonwood, i-live-berlin
Furnished apartments: wunderflats, nestpick
What else to know
Flats in Germany usually don’t come with a built in kitchen, some do but the majority doesn’t. It’s weird yes. You’d have to get one yourself, making the move-in cost significantly higher, a cheap kitchen will set you back at least 1000€.
There’s always a securtiy deposit (Kaution). There’s no set rule for how high it is, but it’s usually somewhere between one and three months worth of rent, due to pay at the date of moving in.
Never pay anything in advance! Especially if you haven’t seen the flat in person. No down-payment, no Kaution in advance! There are many illicit people trying to make a few bucks from unknowing newcomers. You sign the contract, you get the keys, only then you pay something, never before!
Papers to have ready before the search
This is what housing services usually ask for:
Proof of income: Work contract or payslips
SCHUFA record: It’s your German credit score. If you are new in Germany, you probably don’t have a SCHUFA (<—get it for free here) record yet. You can tell the landlord that you just moved to Germany, most landlords will understand.
Mietbürgschaft: This one is only for people with no income or unstable income. It’s the local equivalent of a guarantor, which commits to pay your debts in case you won’t be able do it yourself.
Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung: Not a very common request, but some landlords want this. It’s a certificate from your previous landlord that states that you left your former tenancy contract without any debts.
The 15 Steps to find your Apartment in Berlin:
The struggle is real, this isn’t even exaggerated^^
Reduce you overpriced rent
Most rent prices in Berlin are too high, which is most of the time illegal. There is a service that helps you reduce your illegally high Berlin apartment rent to a normal level:
Conny (use code MKQAZSIY)
You can even get your “over-payed” rent from the past years back. It doesn’t even cost you anything, they will only take a cut of the “saved money” from your landlord. So there is no financial risk involved using them.
I did use their service in a former flat and got back around 2500€ for the last 2 years and our rent was reduced from 990€ to 720€.