Claiming financial help for payment of rent

Hi there

Can anyone please tell me if it is possible to get help with rent in Hamburg/Seevetal from the arbeitsamt ?

I am working but only about 800€ per month and need to get a flat of my own in Hamburg/Seevetal, does anyone have any advice please.

Are those 800 liquid??

If not I am pretty sure you can get it. The best thing you can do is make an appointment at the Leistungsabteilung of the Arbeitsagentur and fill in a form and wait for the outcome.

But there is a chance you might.

Well the problem with zeit arbeit is the amount of money you get varies a lot depending on how many hours you work , you could get 700€ or over 1000€.

Then go to Arbeitsamt. When my boyfriend (from UK) was in a similar situation, once he sent his application for ALG II with details about rent, health insurance, etc, he kept sending his wage slip monthly and they calculated every month how much benefit he would get.

So best thing to do is go there and register and see if you are entitled. You ve got nothing to lose by going there. Can you speak good german? Otherwise make sure you go with somebody who does, because they can be quite abrupt here in HH.

Good Luck!!

Not from the Arbeitsamt ... but you can claim Wohngeld (housing benefit) from the Wohngeldstelle

Thanks for all that i will get my girlfriend (she is german) to check all of it out.

There is a certificate you can get hold of if your income is below a certain level
that entitles you to low rental accommodation.
Try looking up the Baugenossenschaften - SAGA, Deutsches Heim Union
Schiffzimmerergenossenschaft, Fiefstücken etc. and you will find they have cheaper
flats to rent if you have this certificate.

To add to my post of July 7th - the cert. is called a §5-Schein (Wohnberechtigungsschein)
You get it from the "Wohnungsamt". Said subsidised flats are available from SAGA etc.
I suspect you have to be in receipt of Hartz 4 or Arbeitslosigkeitsgeld etc. to get one.
I doubt that a low paid newcomer would qualify, but you could always apply...
The social security system here is more like a fruit machine than a rational system.

Well atm I am working as a zeit arbeiter and get roughly 750-800€ per month, wether that yould qualify as low paid I dont know

Madcat - if you are on your own and earn less than €1000 per month then you are entitled!
At least according to
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wohnberechtigungsschein
Just go to the "Wohnnungsamt" brandishing your payslips (+ID) and say "Ich brauche eine Wohnberechtigungsschein".
If your have a partner or / and "n" kids the limit is higher.
You are low paid by D standards - but the social state here will pump up your standard of living when you
get to know the "ins and outs".