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Living within your own four walls
Its easier to look together for a flatWhen Tomás and Mai arrived in Germany, they already knew where they would be living. The people at the DAAD had advised them to start looking for a place to live as early as possible. Affordable rooms and flats are quickly snapped up in popular university towns like Cologne, Munich, Hamburg, Bonn or Münster. Students who only start looking just before the semester starts can expect long waiting times, long distances to uni and high rents. The situation in towns in eastern Germany and Berlin is less critical.
Start looking for a place to live as early as possible: While still in Vietnam, Mai booked the Service Set for Foreign Students – and so secured herself a place in a student hall of residence. While Tomás had used the Internet to find a room in a shared flat, known in Germany as a Wohngemeinschaft – or WG in short. Several web-based portals offer student accommodation. That was very quick and uncomplicated. I contacted my future flatmate via email and skype and rented the room," reports Tomás.
Places to live? Check the noticeboard!Living with others: After arriving in Germany, however, Tomás realised that "my flatmate had completely different habits to me. When he came home at three in the morning, he would always turn his stereo system up loud. That woke me up every night. And he didn't think much of household chores and cleaning up. Mountains of ashtrays and dirty plates piled up in the kitchen. So we constantly argued."
Luckily, a friend introduced Tomás to Mai and her German friend Nina at a party. A room had just become vacant in Nina's four-room WG – and that's where Tomás now lives.
Tomás was astonished when he first saw the kitchen: "A big notice was posted on the cork board headed "WG Rules" – with a cleaning and shopping schedule for all WG members. Nina told me that such rules help avoid trouble." Tomás meanwhile knows how right Nina is.
Check-list
Renting accommodation step by step
- First read your rent contract carefully and in detail: if anything is unclear, contact the legal advice service offered by the student council or union (AStA).
- Agree how high the deposit is. Generally, you will have to pay a deposit to your landlord or landlady when you sign the rent contract. This can amount to 3 months' base rent (i.e. without heating etc.) and will be repaid when you move out (if there is no damage etc.).
- Inspect the accommodation together with the landlord/landlady and jointly list any damage or shortcomings (such as stains, scratches, etc.) and have the list signed by the landlord/landlady.
- Before moving out, record the status of all meters (gas, water, electricity, heating) and advise your water, gas and/or electricity supplier when you end the contract.
- Immediately register (within one or two weeks) your new place of residence at the respective residents registration authority.
- Make sure that you allow for the period of notice. Often, you will have to give notice of terminating the rent contract three months in advance, otherwise you will end up having to pay two rents.
All about accommodation
The following provides some useful information, from finding to renting a place to live.
Student halls of residence
Rooms in student halls of residence are provided by the student services organisation (Studentenwerk) at your university. To get a room in hall, you have to register early. Because the cheapest rooms – including shared bathroom and kitchen - are very popular. Sometimes there are long waiting lists.
Besides the low prices, halls of residence have another advantage. You quickly get to know other students whose room is on the same corridor or who share the bathroom and kitchen with you. In addition, many student halls of residence have leisure and recreation rooms where parties are held. Another plus-point is that the halls of residence are connected to the university computer centre, which means that you have your own Internet access in your room.
Student halls of residence even have special rooms for student families.
Besides the halls run by student services, church institutions, in particular, also maintain halls of residence for students:
- Catholic student halls: http://katholische-studentenwohnheime.de
- Protestant student halls: www.ev-studentenwohnheime.de.
Shared flats
Shared flats (Wohngemeinschaften – WGs) are an alternative to student halls. Several people live together in a flat they have rented privately and share the kitchen and bathroom. Everybody has their own room, while the other rooms are shared. The advantage is that all the flatmates share all the costs (rent, telephone and Internet, plus utilities like electricity and water), which means that living in a WG is cheaper than living alone. You can find and/or offer WG rooms on the Internet at:
- www.wg-gesucht.de
- www.wggruendung.de
- www.wg-suchen.de
- www.studenten-wg.de
- www.deutschland-wg.de
- www.wohngemeinschaft.de
- http://zimmersucher.de.
Good tips on living in a WG are offered by the following websites:
Private accommodation
Many students have to rent private rooms or flats. These can also sometimes be found via the accommodation services offered by student services. Other flat-hunting options are: the noticeboards in the university foyers, corridors (mostly near the refectory) and the accommodation files kept by the student council or union (AStA).
Another helpful source is provided by the accommodation vacant ads published in local media (print editions mostly Wednesdays and Saturdays, as well as online). Online accommodation markets operating nationwide can be found, for example, on these websites:
Utility costs
Costs for utilities like electricity, gas and heating, and water are generally not included in the rent. You have to pay these extra – but not to your landlord or landlady; in most cases, you pay the municipal water and electricity works direct.
As a tenant, you are entitled to look for your own gas and electricity supplier. The following websites provide information on this: www.stromseite.de and www.verivox.de/power/.
Notepad
Rent contracts
Pay attention!
When renting accommodation – regardless of whether in a student hall of residence, a shared flat, or private accommodation, you will have to sign a rent contract. So read the contract carefully. We would also recommend that you ask the legal advice service offered by the student council or union (AStA, etc.) to check it.
You must always check the state and condition of your future flat or room before you move in. Note down any damage or other shortcomings, like stains, and advise your landlord or landlady of these. That protects you later against any possible claims for damages.
Good links:
Valuable and helpful tips about accommodation and the landlord and tenant law can be found on the following homepages:
From my personal experience
Abdulrahman from Yemen, studying technical information systems
Living together saves money
"I first has a room with a private landlord. The disadvantage was that I was living alone there. That's why I contacted student services to apply for a room in a hall of residence. I had to wait almost three months until I got a place in hall. What I like about hall is that it's not far to uni, just a few minutes. And if I feel like chatting, I can always meet one of my neighbours along the corridor or in the shared kitchen. Another good thing is that the room is fully furnished. Bed, desk and cupboard are all part of the deal. The kitchen is also fully equipped with stove and fridge. In addition, a couple of washing machines are located in the cellar and you can use them for just a few euros. I was able to save a lot of money, because student services provided all the main domestic appliances.
What sometimes gets on my nerves is that I have to share the bathroom and kitchen with others. They sometimes leave dirty plates and dishes lying around the kitchen for a couple of days. I don't like that much.
On the other hand, it's good that I can share the Internet connection with the other students in hall. That also saves some money."
© 2008 Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst e.V. (DAAD), Kennedyallee 50, D-53175 Bonn
Source: http://www.daad.de/deutschland/deutschland/leben-in-deutschland/06188.en.html
Date: 2008-12-04