According to a study by a real estate portal, one in two people are looking for an apartment for longer than a year. The German Tenants’ Association gives tips on what to pay attention to – and what landlords are not allowed to demand.
In Germany, many people have a difficult time because of high rents and the lack of apartments on the real estate market. More than one in two people (54.4 percent) are looking for more than a year to find a new home, according to a study by the Internet platform ImmoScout24. The total number of active search orders is increasing throughout Germany – and with it the competition. After that, rent seekers’ chances of finding what meets their expectations in terms of location, size and price would decrease.
As a survey conducted by the online platform among 1,183 people shows, 22.7 percent of them spent more than two years looking for a new home. Around 64 percent are confident that they will find the right thing this year. A good 16 percent of those who would like to move this year have no hopes of doing so.
The market is very tense, says ImmoScout24 managing director Gesa Crockford. “In particular, rents have been rising for years, meaning that a new apartment is always associated with increased costs.”
Search in Housing portals is often not enough
Melanie Weber-Moritz, the federal director of the German Tenants’ Association, is concerned about these figures tagesschau.de for more affordable housing. This can only be achieved with appropriate support. She also referred to the introduction of a new non-profit housing organization agreed by the traffic light coalition. “A large non-profit housing sector is a guarantee of permanently affordable housing, which is why we are pushing for the implementation of the agreement,” said Weber-Moritz.
In view of the tense housing market, the German Tenants’ Association advises not only to rely on official apartment search portals or advertisements, but also to inform colleagues, friends and family that you are looking for an apartment. Many apartments are rented out without being “officially” offered.
On the other hand, the first contact with the potential landlord, manager or broker is like a job interview. “You should appear and dress appropriately,” recommends the tenants’ association.
Personal impression counts
An earlier survey by ImmoScout24 also underlines this: According to this, the personal impression is most important to landlords when it comes to the large selection of apartment applications.
According to the tenants’ association, compensation payments that the tenant looking for an apartment has to make so that he can rent the apartment or so that the previous tenant can move out are generally inadmissible. “Release agreements, i.e. sales contracts, with which the tenant looking for an apartment undertakes to buy furniture or furnishings are permissible,” it says.
Redemption agreements have limits
But these contracts are only valid as long as the purchase price and value of the items taken over “are not noticeably disproportionate to one another”. According to current case law, a conspicuous disproportion can be assumed if the purchase price is more than 50 percent higher than the actual current value of the purchased item.
An example from the tenants’ association: If the tenant and landlord conclude a replacement agreement for a ten-year-old fitted kitchen at a purchase price of 4,000 euros and the current value of the kitchen is only 2,000 euros, then the agreement is only effective up to the amount of 3,000 euros (current value plus 50 percent). If he has already paid, he can request his money back. This claim only becomes statute-barred after three years.