Find a home

Finding a home can take time, and listings in large cities can move quickly. Check what comes with a flat, prepare the documents you need and verify the advertiser before paying. Rent and deposits have different payment rules.

In short

• A longer-term flat may not include furniture or a kitchen, so ask what comes with it. Student residences are for students. Before booking temporary accommodation, check address registration and the required confirmation with the provider and registration authority; do not assume every hostel is categorically excluded.
• A tenant can be charged an agent’s commission only if the agent obtained the offer exclusively because of that tenant’s brokerage contract, a rental contract results, and the brokerage contract is in text form. The cap is two months’ rent excluding separately accounted operating costs, plus statutory VAT. Advance payments are prohibited.
• After moving in, the ordinary registration deadline is two weeks, subject to statutory exceptions. Get the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from the housing provider or an authorised person; this can be a subletting main tenant.
• The information a landlord may request depends on the stage of the application. A shareable creditworthiness certificate differs from your confidential Article 15 data copy; the data-protection supervisors say landlords must not demand that comprehensive personal copy.
• A visit, someone moving in and a sublet are treated differently. Before sharing your home long term, check the permission and occupancy rules. The Tenant basics guide explains when you may have a right to permission to let part of your home.

What you need to know

A Mietspiegel is a local overview of customary rents, described in section 558c. It is drawn up or recognised by the authority named by the Land, or jointly by landlord and tenant representatives. Search for the Mietspiegel of the city where you want to live.

Ask whether a longer let includes furniture and a kitchen. Short lets may be furnished and for a fixed period. A flatshare (Wohngemeinschaft or WG) is another way to share the rent. Student residences are for students; ask your university’s Studentenwerk about places and waiting lists.

For a holiday flat or hostel, ask the provider and Meldebehörde about your stay and registration documents before relying on it as your address. Temporary-stay exceptions and accommodation-establishment rules depend on your circumstances; the Anmeldung guide explains them. Filling in a guest form is not automatically the same as registering your address.

For social housing, ask the housing authority about a Wohnberechtigungsschein and the rules in your Land. Under section 27 of the Housing Promotion Act, the ordinary income test is whether your household meets the applicable ceiling, which the Land may set differently. You must be legally and actually able to make a longer-term home the centre of your life and run an independent household; a temporary stay is not enough. This does not require a permanent residence permit.

Under the federal provision, the certificate is issued on application for one year; ask the authority which Land rules and exceptions apply. People who rent privately can apply for Wohngeld. Section 19 of the Housing Benefit Act calculates the monthly amount from the rent or housing costs, household income, and the number of household members. The Wohngeldbehörde in your place of residence calculates it.

What to do

1. Search more than one channel. Look for “Wohnung” or “WG” with the city name, including newspaper listings, your employer’s internal forum, housing companies, and housing associations. Ask an association whether membership or a waiting list is required. An estate agent can search for you. Under sections 2 and 3 of the Housing Brokerage Act, a tenant can be charged only if the agent obtains the offer exclusively because of that tenant’s brokerage contract, and a rental contract results. The brokerage contract must be in text form. The tenant’s commission is capped at two months’ rent excluding separately accounted operating costs, plus statutory VAT. Advance payments are prohibited.

2. Prepare documents you may need, but share only what is appropriate for that stage of the application. Federal and Land data-protection supervisors distinguish between a viewing, an expression of interest and selection of a preferred applicant. Financial details are generally unnecessary at a viewing. When prospective tenants view a property unaccompanied, the landlord may check identity details by looking at their ID, but an ID copy is unnecessary and not permitted at that stage.

   Once you express interest, some income questions may be allowed. After selecting a preferred applicant, the landlord may ask for income evidence with unnecessary details obscured, as well as suitable proof of creditworthiness. Supervisors say landlords must not demand your comprehensive Article 15 personal data copy. Ask what appropriate proof or alternative the landlord accepts. If you have no payslips, discuss other suitable evidence. A bank reference or guarantee may be worth discussing, though landlords do not have to accept either in every case.

   A Mieterselbstauskunft asks for personal details; some questions are not allowed, and you do not have to answer them. A newcomer may have little recorded SCHUFA information or no calculable score. Check SCHUFA’s score guidance and available disclosures directly: time in Germany and a German bank account are not universal conditions for every service.

3. At the viewing, check that the rent, the size, and the room count match the advert. Look for mould, faulty windows, and installations. Ask whether repairs will be done. Ask to see the Energieausweis. For a letting, section 80 (5) of the Building Modernisation Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz) applies the viewing rule in section 80 (4): the landlord or the agent has to show the energy certificate, or a copy, at the latest at the viewing. Section 79 (4) takes a small building, and a listed building, outside that duty. Section 3(1) No. 17 defines a small building as a building with no more than 50 square metres of usable floor area (Nutzfläche). Section 3(1) No. 26 defines that area as the Gebäudenutzfläche of a residential building and the Nettogrundfläche of a non-residential building. In an advert, “2-Zimmer-Wohnung” usually means two rooms plus a kitchen area and a separate bathroom, not two rooms in total.

4. Read whether the advertised figure is Warmmiete or Kaltmiete. Kaltmiete is the basic rent. Warmmiete adds service charges such as water, heating, waste, and a caretaker. Electricity and gas are often separate contracts. The tenant page explains the deposit cap and the annual service-charge bill.

5. Obtain the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from the housing provider or an authorised person when you move in. In a sublet the provider can be the main tenant, not the property owner. Register within the applicable period, ordinarily two weeks; use the Anmeldung guide for temporary-stay exceptions and accommodation rules. Check which energy supply you must arrange yourself before consumption. Consuming without another arrangement can create basic supply rather than a contract-free interval; use the utilities guide and official contract guidance for the supplier, contract type and dates.

Verify the advertiser before sharing documents

A copied passport, platform logo or signed-looking PDF does not prove that an advertiser can rent out the home. Treat an alleged landlord abroad, keys by courier and a supposed platform escrow payment before viewing as warning signs. Open the housing or booking platform yourself and verify any booking/payment request through its genuine account and support channel, rather than following a message link. Do not send identity copies or a full application folder to an unverified advertiser.

If you suspect fraud, stop further payments, save the advert, messages and payment details, and report the account to the platform. Contact your bank immediately if you paid; recovery is not guaranteed. Report suspected fraud or misuse of identity documents to the police. The Scams and payment recovery guide explains payment-specific steps. A low price or an overseas owner alone does not prove fraud.

The housing certificate is not housing benefit

A Wohnberechtigungsschein is a municipal certificate for subsidised housing. It is separate from Wohngeld, the housing subsidy explained in the Housing benefit guide.

Apply to the housing authority for the municipality where you live or where you intend to live, on that authority’s own form. Do not pay a private person or website to reserve a social-housing flat or to obtain the certificate. In Baden-Württemberg, the state housing ministry says the municipalities issue the certificate and that it is independent of Wohngeld. Other Länder name their own offices and income rules. Ask the authority that has your file.

Discrimination while looking for or renting a home

If you suspect discrimination in an advert, a viewing, the selection process or an existing tenancy, keep the advert, messages and a dated written account of what happened. Ask the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency or a specialised local advice service for help promptly. The agency offers free, confidential initial information and referrals. Its service is not binding legal advice for your case. Housing protection under AGG section 19 has scope rules and exceptions, including for some close personal living arrangements. Have the particular grounds and circumstances checked rather than assuming every rejection is covered identically.

Under AGG section 21(5), the specified civil discrimination claims normally have to be asserted within two months. A late assertion needs the section’s no-fault exception. Ask how to preserve any claim in time; do not wait for an advice appointment before checking that deadline. The Tenant basics guide explains repairs, rent increases and landlord notices.

Common mistakes

• Treating Munich, Frankfurt, or Berlin prices as the national rent. They are examples of expensive markets. Your city’s Mietspiegel and the advert in front of you are the figures that matter.
• Paying an agent in advance or merely because a property was found. A tenant-paid commission requires the conditions in section 2 of the Housing Brokerage Act and a concluded rental contract. Check the contract and the statutory cap before paying.
• Assuming either that every newcomer can immediately obtain a usable score or that no newcomer without a German bank account can request any SCHUFA service. Check directly with SCHUFA, distinguish a shareable certificate from confidential personal data, and agree appropriate proof with the landlord.
• Applying one generic room-size or visitor-duration figure to every case. Clarify the applicable Land/local occupancy rules and, where relevant, the separate housing requirements for the family’s residence route with the responsible authority. Before another person moves in or you sublet, check the contract and permission rules explained in Tenant basics.