Tips on renting an apartment in Berlin

Hi there!

We have just found a flat in Berlin as we are moving there next week. Some general advice: if possible I would try to give longer than three days to look.

My boyfriend filled in applications for a couple but it has been down to the landlord to go through the applications and select who they want, and we weren't picked for one but got the other. But the landlord took quite a few days to decide as he had a few applicants.

If we hadn't got the flat that we did, then Room with a Loo (English speaking service) had sent us details of flats that they had to let on a more short term basis so we could then look for something more permanent once we were there.

We also found that some agents advertised having lots of flats in certain areas then said that they didn't have anything at the moment when he rang.

Good luck with your search!

The Saturday Berliner Zeitung has the most comprehensive listings.

We found a flat as a 'nachmeiter', taking over someone else's lease, and because the people moving out liked us, they put us at the top of the list.

Otherwise, the first name on the list that passes the credit check should get the flat, although I'm sure landlords ignore this and give the flat to the person with the best credit.

Anyway, there is such a housing glut in Berlin you shouldn't have a problem finding someplace nice and relatively cheap.

Out of interest, what are the rents like in Berlin right now? Im talking about modern, or at least, fully renovated flats, 2 to 3 room. Not interested in any unrenovierte altbau, no matter how cheap (had enough of that when I used to live in Berlin).

I live in a renovated altbau, wood floors, balcony, 2 rooms at 64 sq meters. We pay just under 400 euro warm.

That's in Teptow a block away from the park and river on a quite side street full of protected buildings. 10 minute walk to the ring s-bahn, or just around the corner from the bus. You can be at Alex in 20 minutes, or walk to Kreuzberg along the river in 10.

When I tell people in the states this, they don't believe me,

The flat that we got is 95 sqm, 3 rooms and 900 warm, which compared to what we have been paying for a one bedroomed flat in the UK (650 pounds with council tax and all bills on top) is a bargain. However compared to Ami's place it is shockingly expensive!

Your's is 1/3 bigger, though.

What area are you in? Treptow is still a bargin, although in the past year or so it's become more popular.

A similar flat in Seattle would have cost me easily twice as much.

Its in the dreaded, pretentious Prenzlauer Berg as boyfriend can quickly get to work from there! Which might account for the price hike. And we needed the spare room for family invasions - I think we are going to see more of them when we are there than we have here.
Is Seattle really expensive for the US now? I know many people who would love to move over to the US and Canada (rather than have the language barriers of Europe) for a better quality of life than here.
My old housemate came from Seattle and was horrified at the nasty shared house she had signed up for over the internet. She thought for the price that she was going somewhere nice!

They dont believe you in London either. Or pretty well anywhere else in Britain for that matter.

When I first moved to Berlin back in 1990 I paid just 220 DM (about 110 Euros) a month warm for a 2 room flat, first in Friedrichshain, and then in Köpenick. In the mid 90s rents had risen and I was paying 440 Marks, about 600 DM warm for a 2 room in Prenzlauer Berg. Now Im in Frankfurt and pay double that for the same space. Admittedly quality and location much better. And nice not to have grafitti and dogshit outside your front door.

(Thats Frankfurt am Main, not Oder)

we have just returned from a 4 day flat hunt in berlin and we did all the wrong things and went to all the wrong places for 3 days and on the 4th day found something semi-civilized but missed the responsable person to sign the papers.
It was a real nightmare as beginners in berlin we were really lost. My husband starts at the charite in october - probably without us - what i find strange is that the charite offers no relocation service. any tips from anyone would be great as we are now looking at a case of sending my husband flat hunting on his weekends!
atleast we know which areas are safe and where not to go!
Everyone says don not go and pay commision to an estate agent as there are so many empty flats but we get the feeling it would maybe be better?

Buy a copy of the Saturday Berliner Zeitung. This week's edition had 11 pages of ads, sorted by neighourhood.

Relocation service?! It`s - eastern - Berlin, not Los Angeles.

You could also try the weekend edition of Berliner Morgenpost which has a big immobilien section. I think you can also access the apartments to let database pages on the web as well, which makes searching much easier, since you can enter search criteria like number of rooms, maximum rent and of course area.

good luck!

yes for sure it is just berlin and not los angeles but when you have a family and get a job in such a well known hospital as the charite you would just think a little help would be offered - ok not the whole thing but a few tips atleast would have saved alot of stress, after all they want their employees to be able to start fresh and relaxed and not exhausted and stressed!
will try to get hold of the berlin zeitung even though we are far away, maybe the station has it.
One tip for any travelling to berlin - we checked out of our hotel to return home by train and wanted to wait 3 hours at the zoo bahnhof but some one said to go to ostbahnhof instead and it was really great there, new and clean unlike zoo , kids thought they were at an airport!

Try the Beliner Morgenpost online: Berliner Morgenpost / Rent

I agree a large organisation which is staff-intensive like a big hospital in a big city should provide at least some assistance, some clue trails if nothing else. When I moved to Berlin in 1990 things were very different. Lived there 7 years, for 3 years I lived near the Ostbahnhof (Hauptbahnhof as it was called then), just off Karl-Marx-Allee. 100 euros a month for 60 sq m. Those were the days...

For tips on furnished accommodation see the related TT topic: furnished accommodation in Berlin

try http://www.scout24.de as well

Lots of flats here that you can sort by size and price etc
http://www.wg-gesucht.de/wohnungen-in-Berl...ter=1&x=41&y=10

Can i come with you?

hi all!
i'm in the us and will be moving to berlin in a month or two; my husband is already there and he should be looking for apartments, but he doesn't speak any german, so i'm going to have to look up ads from here and just give him phone numbers to call.

so, the questions:
- where's the best place to look for ads? i've been told, the berliner morgenpost website? is that it?
- what's Warmwasservers. nicht zentral?
- is the only way to find out if the kitchen is installed to call and ask or is it safe to assume that it isn't if the ad doesn't say anything?
- i've always thought that p-berg was more expensive than k-berg, but now that i'm looking at ads, it seems like prices are about the same, is my impression right? we're kind of on a budget. or are the cost differences visible for shopping and other expenses rather than the actual rent? i hear there's a lot of young families in prenzlauberg, would this be a better neighborhood to move into with a baby?

i'll probably come up with more questions later and ask them here...but i'll be grateful if anyone can answer these!

hi

have been here in friedrichain for a while and although not the best place it is cheaper than Prenzlauberg you can try the official websites like WBM or besowgo or stadtundland because this is the basic housing companies here also you could find someone who speaks english also here are some tips try zentralheizung means central heating wasserversorgen mean the type of water used this goes under betreibskosten mainly things like streetcleaning rbish collecting and also water supplies this is all figured out by the housing company what you must look for it warmmiete as this is what it is after betreibskosts have been included kaltmiete is normally without betreibskosten also do not go for a staffelmiete as this means the housing company can also increase the rent when they want also you should think about where the area is trendy areas will obviously cost more ie prenzlauer berg,mitte,or parts of friedrichain look for the extra costs as well also some landlords won't take families DON'T ASK

any more questions?

bye
richard

well that's what i'm trying to figure out, what type would that be? basically my only concern is having hot water around the clock, i lived in berlin for four months two years ago and for some odd reason we had no hot water at night and i want to avoid that.

I found immobilienscout24.de rather useful.

My husband and I are looking for an apartment in berlin with the following specifications: 3 rooms, minimum 75 m2, up to 550 kaltmiete or 690 warmmeite, bathroom with window, no ground floor or dachgeschoss, and preferably with einbaukuche. I dont know if these are impossible standards but we have been looking for months now and its so hard to find one. we have been looking in the schöneberg, charlottenburg, steglitz areas mostly. If anyone knows of any apartments that are free with these specifications or can tell me what the best ways to find an apartment are, i would really appreciate it. thanks.

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hmm...that's seriously a lot to ask for. don't know any apts with those specifications. have you check berlin.craigslist.org or http://www.roomwithaloo.com/ ?

Immoscout is good, and you can also try www.immonet.de.

There are a couple of services out there as well that take a cut if they supply you with the first contact. They include homecompany.de, cominghome.de, and city-mitwohnzentrale.com. In my experience the fees are not always justified by the end result.

Good luck!

Hi Guys

I'm moving over to Berlin in June and in my research I have discovered the following sights which seem really helpful, even for just getting an idea of what your accommodation costs will be.

http://www.easyroommate.com - I've used the Australian version of this for shared accommodation in Perth has worked really well

http://www.rooms-in-berlin.com - this sight is in english and alot of people allow short term lets - its broken down into boroughs and most places have pics

http://www.zimmervermittlung-berlin-kreuzberg.de/english.htm - short stays in Kruezberg

http://ove.immonet.de/search.do?objecttype...federalstate=11 - the Mieten section has heaps of appartments for rental

http://www.german-courses.com/pdf/schnellnetz.pdf - for those investigating overseas a metro map very handy in getting an idea of area with good public transport. (Took me ages to find this map)

Hope this helps a few people see you in June

Tammy

Hello !
I am new to Toytown. But I am glad to read your comments. Similar to "Mesbah" 's post in 2005, my husband is starting at the Charite in August 07. We also have children and are trying to look for an apartment online before we arrive. As Mesbah said the Charite is not helpful in this way. ImmobilienScout is a GREAT site! But it is a little tricky looking for an apartment as most of the listing are only available immediately. We are still in the states and are not able to travel due to visa constraints. It doesn't look like we would be able to confidently book an apartment from abroad. Is it pretty easy to find an apartment in Berlin in just a matter of weeks? We plan to arrive in July and will have a few weeks before his work starts .

Also which areas do you all recommend? I have heard Treptow, and Pberg so far. What about Pankow, Obershonwiede, or Reinickendorf? I found quite a few listings in those areas.

Any advice is welcome. THanks very much for your time! Tschuss! )

My partner and I are moving to Berlin for June. We have been using the internet to hunt for an affordable small apartment (large bachelor or 1 bedroom). The search has so far born no fruit. We're probably only staying for the summer (3 months), so are looking for short term lease.

does anyone have any opinion on how quickly an apartment can be acquired in Berlin, preferably in Prinzlauer Berg or nearby. I've lived in cities where it's a lottery, and I've lived in cities where the landlords were trolling the streets for tenants.

thanks in advance for any comments,

Robert

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http://www.mitwohnzentrale.de/ <- have you tried this one already?
It's a site from where you can find apartments an rooms to let, for short terms only, so that might help you further. If you contact me, I could give you the number of a friend who lives in Mitte, in a very nice area and frequently shares her large apartment with guests for an affordable fee (one room only, but lots of space around) - anyway, good luck!

My general advice is that as long as you are INSIDE the ring-Bahn, you'll be OK. Outside, there are some nice parts but many areas quickly degenerate to Berlin's equivalent of the strip mall and everything becomes very automobile-oriented. Especially all immigrants should steer clear of the East, east of the ring-Bahn (Lichtenberg, etc). Now is peak summer rental season, so most nice furnished sublets have been snapped up. If you're able to deal with unfurnished, you should be fine, but that's often difficult to do for a summer. Many people have rented sight-unseen, but I myself was never willing to do so, and I'm actually viewing a few places for some friends myself right now. I'm willing to help if you want to write me off-line.

Does anyone know of any long term rental agents?

when I trawl the net all I get is serviced apartments which charge by the day, and of the two sites I have managed to find which do longer term rentals, 99% of the apartments are not available for at least 3-4 months (some not until next year, not very helpful if you need somewhere in 3-4 weeks. please help, I hate hotels.

We used http://www.pappenberg.de/
Stephen Pappenberg speaks English and usually has long term rentals.

Moving to Berlin end of the year, and rather than searching through online ads, we are thinking of using a Makler. Any recommendations on good people in Berlin, in addition to the one post directly above? We are looking for 2-3 br renovated altbau, in a nice green area, specific stadtteil is not so crucial.

thanks for any help!

Hello, if you would like to stay in a short term rental while looking around I can recommend the agency we used : www.wohnwitz.com
the minimum rental period is 1 month and you can renew each month at the end. We lived in a furnished altbau for a couple of months while searching for our final place and were very happy with it.

I can not recommend the makler we used because they were useless, same goes for the managing company we have now. They are called Berolina, pls stay away from them (we have been waiting 3 months for our doorbell to be installed, heating does not work, they are not responding to our emails/letters etc...)
good luck!

hi there, im moving to berlin on monday, and im a bit worried if i manage to find a flat or not as my german is not that perfect. so i was wondering, maybe you guys could share your experience: did you find it hard to get a room? are englsih speaking people accepted for flatshare?

sorry, im just getting a bit nervous.

cheers

When we moved here we looked at places on immobilienscout.de and found plenty of places that interested us. Our German was not very good and we called a few places and no one called us back. I asked a German friend to call the realtors that we had contacted and he said that they didn't call us back because no one in the office spoke English. So once I employed a German friend to help me find an apartment it was no problem. Maybe other people on here had better success without German but I don't know how we would have done it without a German to help us.

Good luck and welcome to Berlin!
Ali

Craigslist scam alert for Berlin apartment rental ad.
I think I should alert you guys here since Craigslist does not have any mechanism to report scammers; and FBI needs you to be an 'actual victim' before you can report anything. Just want to make you aware so you don't be a victim.

I replied to 2 of the craigslist apt rental ad and the email replies clued me in that it's a scam. The name may be different but similar template. The 'Africa Crusade' and vagueness on actual apartment address also are the clues - I google the guy's email and there're posts on craigslist in at least 10 different cities around the world. And the 'wife's email' is on scam alert.

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to
hearing from you.I am Henry Liop,the owner of
the house you are making enquiry of.Actually I
resided in the house with my family,such as my
wife and my only daugther before and presently we
had packed due to my transfer from my working
place and now situated in the Aurora,Colorado
and presently my house is
still available for rent for Euro600 including
the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it
is furnised.Moreso Now, i went for a Crusade in
the West Africa and i will like you to get in
touch with my wife in the state for more
discussion as She is with the keys and the
document to the house.Pls i want you to note
that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent
alot on my property that i want to give you for
rent,so i will solicit for your absolute
mentenance of this house and want you to treat
it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money
the main problem but want you to keep it tidy
allthe time so that i will be glad to see it
neat when i came for a check up.i do that once
in a while.I also want you to let me have trust
in you as i always stand on my word.Email my
wife Sarah, on (sa.jon22010@gmail.com) and she
will attends to you better.
Thanks and you are welcome
Regards

These 2 agencies are very responsive and will speak to landlords and pull lists for you without you having to search through the list. And speak/write good English. I have good experience with them.

http://www.city-wohnen.de
http://www.exberliner.com

Hi there, I am moving to berlin within one month, and would like to have a look at the flats.
which websites are the best?

thanks
daniele

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Check Immonet & Immobilienscout24 as your first stops...they have loads of listings