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Four ways to help lower your rent in Germany

It’s often expats in Germany who find themselves paying unduly high rent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a better deal – even if you’ve already signed your tenancy agreement.

Published: 28 May 2020 13:39 CEST
Four ways to help lower your rent in Germany
Photo: Chrissi/Depositphotos

When you’re looking for accommodation in a competitive rental market, it might seem the only option is to pay whatever rent the landlord asks for. In actual fact, Germany’s rental market is highly regulated and knowing your rights will often get you a fairer price.

Here’s how to make sure your tenancy agreement is compliant with German rental laws – and what to do if it isn’t.

Read up on the Mietpreisbremse rental law

In the summer of 2015, Germany introduced a law to cap how much landlords in urban areas could charge above the rental average or Mietspiegel. Aimed at slowing down the pace of rental increases, Mietpreisbremse stipulates that new rental contracts cannot exceed 10 percent of the average price of an apartment in the area. You do need to meet certain criteria to be eligible, which you can read more about here.

You might ask why, if this law exists, you still hear of people paying extortionate rent? It’s because the law has a fatal flaw. Landlords who don’t follow it aren’t penalised and so many have actively ignored it. As a result, publicly available data shows that every second tenancy agreement in Germany is unlawful.

Click here to find out now whether your rent is illegally high

For expats, the situation is even worse. The tenants’ rights portal wenigermiete.de analysed more than 2,500 rental contracts from expats that were submitted to its website and found 83 percent had illegally high rent. The reason for this isn’t entirely clear but it could be that German landlords are aware that many expats don’t know their rights. Alternatively, expats may be used to paying higher rent in their home countries and so remain unaware they are being overcharged.

Familiarising yourself with Mietpreisbremse is the first step towards making sure you get a fair deal when you sign a tenancy agreement. And it’s never too late to invoke it – even if you’ve already signed a lease, you can still challenge it if you discover your rent is too high.

Know your options: Online portal, tenancy association, local lawyer
 
If your rent is illegally high, you don’t have to keep quiet and cut your losses. German rental law favours the tenant and there are several ways to lower the amount you’re paying.

To start with, there is the team at Berlin-based online portal/legal-tech startup wenigermiete.de – part of Conny GmbH. Once you’ve filled in their online questionnaire to determine whether you’re eligible for a rent reduction, they handle your case from there. The website makes the saving calculation based on the official rental index of each city and about 30-50 detailed questions regarding your apartment.

If you answer the questions accurately, there is a high chance that you can save the calculated amount. The portal’s team will act on your behalf to lower your rent, representing you in court if necessary. You only pay if they are successful – and even then their fee comes out of the security deposit you’ve already paid to your landlord. 

Photo: Skitterphoto on Pexels

Alternatively, you could contact your local tenants’ union which will support you in approaching your landlord and challenging the illegal contract yourself. This often involves you attending on-site appointments. If the landlord doesn’t respond, the tenancy association will refer you to a lawyer. This may cost you a deductible of €150 – although in Berlin the association often waives the fee. 

Your third option is to hire a lawyer from the outset. Just be aware that even the initial consultation can cost up to €190 per hour – and that’s just to evaluate whether you have a case or not. It’s not unheard of for people to pay the €190 only for a lawyer to advise them against taking action as their case has a low chance of success.

Concerned about high rent? Find out now whether the rent control act could help you

Don’t fear contract termination

It’s understandable to worry that challenging your contract might lead your landlord to terminate your lease or cease maintaining the property. But the fact is, they have no legal leg to stand on.

If your tenancy agreement is with a property management company and you’ve complied with all the contractual obligations, they cannot legally cancel your lease. If you’re renting from a private landlord, legal termination can only occur on the grounds that the landlord needs the property for themselves or their family members. 

Several conditions must be met for them to claim the property for their own use and such notices issued by private landlords can often be blocked. wenigermiete.de will review these and and other termination notices for you.

Most landlords already know that they are breaching rent control law. They will be cautious if they receive a letter signed by a lawyer so wenigermiete.de ensures every claim letter is signed by a contract lawyer that works closely with the portal. 

Landlord terminated your contract? Find out if you could block the termination

Reject unjustified rent increases

The most sensible thing you can do when renting in Germany is stay clued up. There are laws in place to protect you, but you need to know them to use them to your advantage.

If your landlord demands a sharp increase, check the Mietspiegel. Don’t accept anything without asking for the landlord’s justification and checking yourself or having someone else check whether it makes sense and is within legal limits.

You should know that the law also prohibits steep rises in rent over a short period of time. Landlords are not permitted to increase your rent more than 15 percent over a three-year period and it still cannot exceed the rent index (the same rent index used for rent control but without applying the 10 percent addition). wenigermiete.de also helps you check and dispute rent increase letters.

You’re also protected if your rental property is repaired or modernized. Until recently, landlords could reclaim 11 percent of the cost of the repairs or refurbishment, but as of 2019 they can only reclaim eight percent annually. This has been one of the biggest issues faced by tenants in Germany who would find themselves unable to pay the unexpected rent increase.

If you suspect your rental contract is against German rent control law you can can call wenigermiete.de‘s free hotline on 030 8632-8934-0 (Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm)  

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Wenigermiete.

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LIVING IN GERMANY

‘Clunky process’: The steps you need to take to get married in Germany

Getting married in Germany is not for the faint of heart. The Local spoke to a foreign national who recently tied the knot to learn more about the process and the challenges. Here's what you should know before you step up to the altar.

Published: 16 May 2024 11:02 CEST
Updated: 19 May 2024 08:25 CEST
'Clunky process': The steps you need to take to get married in Germany

Whether to a German or another foreign national, getting married in Germany is not a far-fetched prospect for many foreign residents, especially those who arrive single and decide to settle down for the longer term.

But those who dare to propose (or say yes) are promptly met with an ugly reality. The process to legally marry in Germany is a beast.

In fact, just learning about the requirements to do so is enough to send a fair amount of engaged couples packing – literally, they pack and go to Denmark for their marriage.

“It was like the final boss of German bureaucracy,” Liam Kelley, Berlin resident from Canada, told The Local about his experience preparing to be wed in Germany’s capital last year.

But Liam is walking proof that it can be done, and there are certain advantages to marrying within the country that you live – namely not needing to apply to have your foreign marriage recognised in Germany. 

So if you’re recently engaged, or thinking about it, and ready to do battle with the bureaucracy, here’s what you should know about getting married in Germany and the challenges involved:

Start with the paperwork

Before you can apply for a wedding at your local registry office (Standesamt), you’ll need a few documents. Note that some cities require you to first schedule a consultation at the Standesamt, where they’ll explain which documents you’ll need.

Generally the following are required:

  • Birth certificates
  • Valid passports or IDs
  • A registration certificate for your current address in Germany not older than 14 days (Erweiterte Meldebescheinigung). But in some cities the Standesamt can pull this information for you.
  • A certificate of no impediment to marriage (Ehefähigkeitszeugnis). This is usually provided by your home country. Formerly wed and divorced partners can usually present a divorce certificate instead.

Where this all gets a bit complicated is that these documents may need to be translated to German by accredited interpreters, and authenticated or apostilled by official authorities as well.

“The most challenging part was gathering all the documents and having them properly notarised within the various time windows,” Liam told The Local.

As listed above, Liam needed a fresh confirmation of his residence despite already being registered at a Berlin address along with his fiancée. That document needed to be no more than two weeks old.

Simultaneously, Liam needed his birth certificate, notarised by the Canadian government that was no older than six months. The birth certificate also needed to be translated by an accredited interpreter. 

“The process was clunky,” Liam said, “after receiving the birth certificate, I basically had to send it back to get it notarised by the same authorities. All of this by snail mail too, so I was worried about things getting lost in the post.”

Hustle to get an appointment

When you’ve got all of your documents in order, you can make an appointment at the registry office to have your application reviewed, and hopefully collect their approval to be wed. This comes in the form of a certificate, which is only valid for six months. 

Should you fail to perform the ceremony within that time, the document expires and you’d need to start again at the beginning – recollecting some of the documents that would be considered expired by then.

“The Standesamt that gave us our certificate didn’t have any appointments within that window, so we needed to call around for another Standesamt that could service us,” Liam said.

He called quite a few of Berlin’s registry offices before he found one with an opening within the next six months, but in the end he succeeded in scheduling the wedding.

READ ALSO: How Berlin’s immigration office wants to make it easier to get an appointment

In Germany’s bigger cities, registry offices can be fully booked months in advance which can make trying to schedule a wedding within the six month window a challenge. 

Once your marriage certificate has been granted, you are eligible to be wed at any German Standesamt, even in a different city, for example. Smaller towns or other cities may have the advantage of having more availability for weddings, depending where you live. In this case, you will need to make the appointment at the other Standesamt, and then inform the local office where you registered, which sends over the authorisation on your behalf.

Liam and Julie get married

Newlyweds Liam Kelley and Julie Bourgeois pose in front the Berlin registry office where they had just married. Photo provided by Liam Kelley.

A quick and practical ceremony

Note that all legally binding weddings in Germany take place in a registry office. If you are dreaming of a church wedding or an outdoor ceremony, you can do so separately. But the legal marriage must happen in the Standesamt.

On your wedding day, you’ll need to bring your ID or passport to the registry office. In Germany, it is customary for each partner to bring a witness (Trauzeuge), and you can also invite a small group of family or close friends.

If your German is not sufficient, you will need a sworn-in interpreter for the ceremony as well.

You can expect the ceremony to last 15 minutes and to be performed very punctually. 

On the day of Liam’s wedding in Berlin, the registry office’s wedding hall was fully booked, with his wedding being one of four performed that hour. Therefore, it’s important to be on time and well-prepared. He and his fiancée were able to choose a song that was played as they and their guests took their places before the ceremony began.

All’s well that ends well

Liam noted one hiccup occurred when the bride’s witness was asked to sign the marriage document, and he asked the officiant in English if he should put his whole name or initials. Suddenly, the officiant got very serious and paused the ceremony to ask the witness several times in German if he understood everything that had happened thus far.

“She (the officiant) freaked out because she was worried that he didn’t understand what he was signing, and he just kept responding that he did understand, but in English, exacerbating the situation,” Liam said.

For Liam, despite knowing how challenging it would be, getting married in the country where he lives just made sense: “I plan on living in Germany for some time, pay taxes here, contribute to public health care, and my son will attend school here. It’s probably just neurotic, but I am at ease thinking it’s all in the same country.”

READ ALSO: Ehegattensplitting – How did Germany’s marriage tax law become so controversial?

Also, going out of Germany for the wedding would have added some expense for travel and lodging.

In the end, knowing what they were getting into and doing their best to be proactive about paperwork and appointments, made the challenge manageable for Liam and his partner.

Liam also noted that the Standesamt employees were immensely friendly and helpful throughout the process.

READ ALSO: 10 things you need to know about German weddings

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