Housing

If your asylum application is still being processed (“Asylbewerber”) and you have not yet received a protection status, the state will provide for your accommodation. As a rule, you will be housed in an initial reception facility (“Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung” or “EAE”) for the first months following your arrival. From there, you will move into a communal accommodation space (“Gemeinschaftsunterkunft”, “Asylbewerberheim” or “Wohnheim”) or a private flat. In both cases, the government will cover the costs of your housing. In principle, this process is regulated differently in the various federal states. You may also have to move from one federal state to another due to the Initial Distribution of Asylum Seekers (EASY). To which reception facility you will be allocated depends on the current capacities as well as your responsible branch office of BAMF or initial reception facility.

As an asylum seeker, the "competence according to country of origin" principle applies to you. That means depending on your country of origin, you can be accommodated in reception facilities for up to six months, or until your case is decided. You can also be allocated to another facility during this period under certain circumstances, for instance for family reunification. In case you come from a so-called “safe country of origin” (Ghana, Senegal, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo as of November 2017), you will have to stay in the initial reception facility during your entire asylum process.

If you are permitted to relocate to a private apartment during your asylum process, remember that the apartment must meet the prerequisites specified by the social welfare office (“Sozialamt”) in your city of residence. That means before you start looking for an apartment, you need to apply for a Rent Takeover Certificate (sometimes called “Mietübernahmeschein”) from the social welfare offices or ministries depending on the federal state you live in. Once you have this document, you may register, for example, with the Evangelical Youth and Welfare Office (EJF) (in Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia) to look for an apartment or seek advice. A rental apartment should be within a specific cost and size range and have a stove and a kitchen sink for the relevant authorities to confirm your relocation.

If you have been granted asylum ("Asylberechtigung", "Flüchtingsschutz" or "Subsidärer Schutz") you can – and often must – move out of the state-provided accommodations. The local Social Welfare authorities (“Sozialamt”) and the Housing Office (“Wohnungsamt”) will help you in your search for a new home. In some cities, due to insufficient housing options, some people have to spend a longer time in such communal accommodations.

Once you have been granted asylum, you will no longer receive benefits from the Social Welfare Office (“Sozialamt”), but from the Jobcenter. According to the German Social Law, the Jobcenter is responsible for the payment of the so-called “Grundsicherung für Arbeitssuchende” or “basic support for job-seekers”. If you want to move out of your shared accommodation into a private flat, remember that the apartment must meet the prerequisites specified by this law and your relevant Jobcenter office. The prerequisites, often called maximul rent limits (“Mietobergrenzen”), may vary based on the district or city you live in. 

The Jobcenter employee in charge of you will provide you with a document specifying how much they are willing to pay per person/flat/square metre in your area or city. Once you have found an apartment, your future landlord must make you an official offer in writing (“Wohnungsangebot”) which you have to submit to the Jobcenter. Until they accept this apartment, you shouldn’t sign a rental contract nor make any payments. In case the Jobcenter agrees with your relocation to a private apartment, they also provide an extra budget to buy furniture and other basic necessary items for your new home (“Kosten für Erstausstattung”).

As long as your asylum case is pending, you are not allowed to move away from the city or municipality the Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (“Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge” or BAMF) has assigned you to. In addition to that, since August 2016 a residence restriction (“Wohnsitzauflage” or “Wohnsitzzuweisung”) applies to all refugees who have been granted political asylum, refugee protection or subsidiary protection. That means you have to live in the city specified as your place of residence in your residence permit. If you found a job or have a spouse or minor children in another German city and want to move, you should contact the local authority who issued your residence restriction. For more information talk to a lawyer or visit counselling centres nearby.

It is not easy to find the perfect apartment, and any suitable place would have many applicants, so you should prepare the documents beforehand and submit them early on. Here is a list of the documents most landlords ask for:

• An application form, often available online or handed over to tenants while visiting the property,
• Copies of your ID or passport and residence card,
• Proof of income, i.e. usually the payroll of the past three months. If you have just started working in Germany, your employer can provide a document certifying your position and salary. If you are a freelancer, you can submit invoices, bank statements, work contracts and the likes. If you receive social benefits, you can submit a document from the Jobcenter certifying that they will pay your monthly rent,
• A certificate from current landlord concerning non-arrears (“Mietschuldenfreiheit”). By this document, your landlord confirms your rent has always been paid on time, so it can function as a substantial proof of your reliability. Your former landlord can issue you this document,
• Evidence of your creditworthiness or “Schufa”, which shows whether you are debt-free.

Some newspapers and magazines still publish housing ads, but internet ads exceed them in number by far, so the best place to start your search is online. On real estate websites, you can specify the rent range, location and other features of the apartment you are searching for and then go through the details of your search result one by one. Many websites also offer you the opportunity to set up an alarm, by which the website would automatically send you a message anytime an apartment matching your search terms is added to their database. On websites like eBay Kleinanzeigen, Immobilienscout24 and Immonet, you can find numerous ads and search for what suits your needs. If you are looking for a room in a shared flat, WG-gesucht is one of the websites you can check. There is also another useful website named www.fluechtlinge-willkommen.de which aims at connecting locals living in shared flats and refugees.

Online ads often include images of the place and all necessary information, including rent, utility costs and the date you can move in. You should read the description in each ad carefully and contact the landlord for any further questions. Some landlords publish their phone number in the profile, and some prefer communication through message and email. Keep in mind that you should be quick to react when you find a place that fits your needs, as a suitable tenant is often selected pretty fast and the ad vanishes from the internet in no time.

Your total rent (“Warmmiete”) includes a basic rent (“Kaltmiete”), operating costs (“Betriebskosten”) for maintenance, waste collection and the likes, plus all additional costs (“Nebenkosten”) for heating, hot water, utilities and possibly gas. You have to personally find an electricity supplier and separately pay for the household's electricity usage. Keep in mind that once you have signed a rental contract and have moved in, raising the rent by the landlord is only permitted under certain conditions.

The maximum amount of money your landlord can ask for as a rental deposit (“Kaution”) equals three months of basic rent (“Kaltmiete”). You can pay the rental deposit in 3 monthly instalments, starting from the date the contract is signed. If you don't cause any extra costs for your landlord (e.g. damage to the property), at the end of the contract, they have to return the security deposit and its respective interest.

Many apartments are provision-free for the tenants, meaning the provision (“Provision”) for the real-estate agent who brokers the deal is paid by the landlord. When a provision is demanded, the share the tenant has to pay shouldn't exceed two months of basic rent (“Kaltmiete”) plus the turnover tax altogether. You can also personally pay a real-estate agent or company to find you an apartment, but you should be very cautious and find a legitimate person or company for this purpose.

Rental ads could be published by private landlords or real estate agencies. Both individual and official landlords widely use internet ads to find new tenants. You might also see tenants who post an ad for their current apartment and try to find a new tenant (“Nachmieter”). Subletting an apartment or room (“Untermiete”) without the consent of its owner is not permitted by law, so in such cases, you would ultimately have to negotiate with the actual owner. If you want to sublet an apartment or room directly from the tenant, make sure they have all the necessary written permits for subletting from the landlord. A proper, valid, written contract is essential, also when you are subletting a place.

Apartments rented out by housing cooperatives (“Genossenschaftswohnung”) are another option: these are residential buildings which you should join as a shareholder before you can rent an apartment there. Despite the necessary initial investment which varies from case to case, housing cooperatives are often cheaper. Since the investors, who are also the tenants, collectively own the building, they can decide together about the costs and conditions in a way that secures their wellbeing as tenants.

If you are a recognised refugee with a low income or currently unemployed, you are entitled to social housing. These accommodations are less expensive than others as the German state subsidises them. To rent such apartments, you first need to request a certificate of eligibility for social housing ("Wohnberechtigungsschein" or WBS) from your city or municipal authority. The WBS proves that your income is below a certain threshold. You should present it to the landlord or broker when visiting the property.

As the number of people in looking for apartments is constantly on the rise, you should be cautious during your search, mainly when an opportunity seems to be “too good to be true”. Remember you should never pay before signing an actual rental contract and receiving the keys to the apartment. While searching online, you can check if the apartment is offered by an individual or a company. It is easier to check if a housing company is legitimate. In case the offer has been made by an individual, you need to be more cautious and study the conditions carefully.

If you have decided to hire a real-estate agent to find you an apartment, make sure you never pay unless the amount of your payment and its purpose is explicitly clarified in a written agreement. The payment should take place when they have successfully found you an apartment.

It is necessary to register your new place of residence as soon as you move in. To do so, contact the registration authorities (“Meldebehörde”) nearby. Usually, you will have one to two weeks’ time to register your new place. If you miss the deadline, you may have to pay a fine.

In general, people in Germany often prefer to live in peace and quiet. So loud music, noisy parties and alike can lead to difficulties and disputes between people who are living in the same building. Disturbing the neighbours by creating too much noise is called “Ruhestörung” (breach of the peace) in German. To avoid any trouble, make sure you respect the noon and night quiet hours (“Mittags- und Nachtruhe”), room volume level (“Zimmerlautstärke”) and Sunday rest hours (“Sonntagsruhe”), which are often specified in rental contracts or house rules. 

As a tenant, you can always terminate an indefinite rental contract by informing your landlord in writing three months before your contract ends. The cancellation letter must reach the landlord no later than the third working day of a month, for the respective month to be counted. There are cases where the tenant has a shorter notice period than the regular three months. The cancellation period depends on what you have agreed on in your contract.

The landlords can also cancel a rental contract, but there are legal hurdles in place to secure the rights of tenants. Up to a rental period of 5 years, landlords can terminate the contract by sending a notice three-months ahead. If you have resided in the place for more than three years, the notice period for the landlord can be as long as nine months.

Apart from the support and counselling specific to refugees, there are public tenancy support services (often called “Mieterschutzbund” or “Mieterverein”) in different cities- they offer one-to-one housing advice to citizens in need. Any vulnerable tenant who is experiencing difficulties managing their housing can benefit from different counselling options (refugee or otherwise), but keep in mind that such organisations often demand an annual membership fee in return. When you become a member, as a tenant you would be offered specialised advice on plenty of housing-related issues, including legal disputes and financial disagreements with your landlord or housing company during your tenancy.