Whether it is living in the inner city or the edges of town, a villa or a warehouse, a farm or an apartment, Germany offers a remarkable range of housing possibilities. A legendary public transport system and an extensive highway network means that you can live in a village in the hills outside Frankfurt or the newly opened up outer areas on the fringes of Berlin and still be extraordinarily well connected to the centre of town. Of course, you might also be looking to find a patch to settle down for a while along the rich and elegant foreshores of Hamburg’s lakes or among the urban pioneers of the city’s more gritty multi-culti St Georg or in Berlin’s hip Mitte (centre). Or maybe you are searching for a pad in Munich’s upwardly mobile Schwabing or trendy Isarvorstadt. But wherever that little piece of heaven you might be seeking is, the rules of the German renting game are essentially the same.

Rental prices Germany’s recent less-than-inspiring economic performance also means that rents across the nation have tended to stabilise although as a general rule you will find that Frankfurt and Munich, for example, are far more expensive than Berlin. This is probably putting it somewhat mildly. In comparison to almost in other major European metropolises, Berlin’s rental market remains one of its major attractions. Sure, rents have been escalating especially in super fashionable areas like Mitte or Prenzlauer Berg. But it is still possible to find an old-style apartment in Berlin (with all mod cons) for what you could end paying for a much smaller shoe box in a less cheerful new building in, say, Cologne. By the way, rents (early German lesson) are either Kaltmiete (cold rent), meaning the net rent or Warmmiete (warm rent). This includes utilities such as heating and sometimes cable TV.

How to get started

Unless you are thinking about a Wohngemeinschaft or WG (German for shared accommodation), one of the first things you might have to do is to register with the police. A personal ID might do, but some landlords or agent will ask you to produce your Polizeiliche Anmeldung (police registration). These days there are more furnished apartments and houses on the market, but in general most places have nothing in them. That includes light fittings, curtains, refrigerators and in some extreme cases not even floor coverings or a kitchen! That’s because Germans tend to rent rather than buy and stay for long periods. Where to find rentals Places to rent are advertised in key city publications such as newspapers like Hamburg’s Abendblatt, Berlin’s Morgenpost and Tagesspiegel, Frankfurter Rundschau and Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung. It’s also not bad to have a lawyer or German-speaking friend on call to take you through the lease before you sign it.

Leases

German leases are by not means universal — they can include all sorts of surprises. In particular, watch out for leases that include the dreaded Staffelmiete clause, which means rents are automatically increased every year by a percentage of the previous year. In some cases, the Staffelmiete can be quite steep. So what seemed like a bargain (Schnappchen) when you rented it can suddenly start turn into something quite expensive after only a few years.

There can be all sorts of other things tucked away in the lease such as a requirement to place those small metal objects in the kitchen sink to catch food items before they go down the drain or to disconnect the water supply to balcony taps during winter. If the pipe bursts you could be up for damages. Leases can also set out what you are required to do to the apartment when you decide to move out. This essentially means taking down that seventies-style wallpaper and painting over the murals to return the apartment to what it was like when you moved in. Your duties can depend on the length of time you have rented the apartment. The lease also sets out how much notice you have to give before moving out, which also depends on how long you have lived there.

The road to renting