Bureaucracy and apartment rental in Berlin

I'm moving up to Berlin from Stuttgart and if that weren't difficult enough to co-ordinate while working full time, the intrusiveness of Berlin landlords is driving me nuts. I'm looking for a nice place (up to about 1000 euros a month), but the amount of paperwork is so excessive that I'm getting a bit fed up. I'm thinking here of:

Mietschulden-Befreieungsschein (got it from my landlord here who chuckled and shook his head)
Salary slips (none of their bloody business anyway)
Schufa Antrag
Plus the application forms, copies of passports etc.

Now I've found a potential flat where, on top of all that, they want proof of what I've paid in rent for my current flat. Aaargh!!!

My question: is this normal? While I understand the sense behind it, I still feel there is something not quite right with your landlord knowing how much you earn.

I'd be interested to know how have others have got on.

Hello

For sure you are not oblidged to provide any pay slips or how much you earn but landlords/agents try the easy way out up here. Give them the details of your personnel contact or bank advisor and they will confirm you have enough to cover rent.

I had to provide a lot of that stuff as well. Actually it seems reasonable for a landlord to want to know how much you earn, as its an indication of whether you are solvent enough to be able to pay the rent. Of course circumstances can change. Just because you can pay it this year, doesnt mean you will still be able to in 1, 2, 10 years, its just a snapshot in time, but thats not how they look at the world.

Ive had landlords/agents in London also wanting to have salary details and bank references as well, so not just a german thing.

Yes- the procedure is quite common- considering that the german law is so much on the tenants side landlords like to look twice before renting their places.
It is not easy to have a tenant move out even if he doesnt pay the bills...
Ever thought about hiring a relocation agent?They take care of things like that.

hi

this is interesting okay here it is more difficult you should be able to get a place here for that money

the stuff you need is quite funny but understandable

the Mietschulden-Befreieungsschein is a new one on me as I have been told you should not have to pay the rent of the person who previously lived there or the person who lived there did a runner and they want to make sure you don't do one as well this happens as people ahve moved into appartments and have not paid their rent this is tarring everyone with the same brush but this is normal

Salary slips are to show the housing company if you can afford to pay the rent also they will try to put the rent up if you earn more always take the lowest one as this is a one off

Schufa Antrag this is to prove you are not in debt with anyone and therefore you can pay the rent this is a pushing it a bit as this is normally none of their business but if you are in doubt go to a mieterverein or to triebehilfe here in berlin and talk to them never had to show this one before schufa is the blacklist of people who owe money

all this sounds like to much paperwork the passports yes a work contract yes but other things are a qustion mark best to go also to the british embassy as they can also help you or tell you where to go but still look around also may be better to go with a housing company wbm or someone else as they will probably ask for less

bye

richard

This is puzzling to me as I've been here 3 months & already lived in 2 furnished rentals & got to the point of almost renting a third when both parties decided the timing was not so good. I have not had to provide any information; in fact I've been surprised at how little they wanted. I was careful, however, about how I presented myself -- came professionally dressed from work, showed ID from my work (Charité, which is a respected name & may have helped). I have dealt with a Hauptmieter in each case who wants someone reliable to take care of their stuff, but neither has gotten the main landlord involved, which has been lucky for me. The third case was going to involved the main landlord, but still my sense was that my passport and a copy of my work ID was going to be sufficient (there might also have been a short interview).

I'm not sure what sort of first impression you give, but my sense is that dressing up for this sort of interaction really pays off. Of course mine is anecdotal information and doesn't seem to correspond with the other stories. Are you looking at furnished places? That is a different sort of market. If you can deal with something unfurnished, Berlin is your oyster & if someone is being too intrusive you can just walk away because there are TONS of available flats & I would think it is really a renter's market. Hope this helps.

ok thanks everyone for the input. Here's a quick update:

In the end, it wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. They often come out with a long list of the things they would like but when it comes to the crunch, if you have a Mietschulden-Befreiung and salary slips - or some kind of proof that you are in full-time employment and can pay the rent, they're generally happy to leave it at that.