How degewo lets its flats

In short

1. Request the flat through the form on its page at degewo.de: your name, email address and phone number.
2. Fill in the second form. degewo answers with the email „Bestätigung Ihrer Anfrage“: tap „Formular ausfüllen“ in it. Only then does degewo record your request.
3. The draw. A random draw picks who is invited to a viewing. If you aren't picked, degewo writes to say so.
4. Book your viewing slot from the email „Einladung zur Besichtigung“.
5. The viewing. Bring your ID.
6. Say you want the flat in degewo's online form: when you'd like to move in, and your household's net income.
7. Upload your documents once you're on the shortlist, and not before degewo asks.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo's emails to an applicant, September to November 2026

When degewo's flats go online

In the last 13 weeks, 849 of degewo's flats went online on its own website, as FlatStrike saw them, in 327 different hours: 99% of them from Monday to Friday, the most on Wednesdays (22%).

55% of those hours were between 9:00 and 14:00. Each hour counts once, however many flats went online in it. If you look for its flats yourself, look on weekdays between 9:00 and 14:00. These are past weeks, not a schedule of degewo's.

Source: FlatStrike, when each of degewo's flats first appeared on its website

1. The request

On the flat's page at degewo.de, the contact form asks for your first and last name, your email address and your phone number, with room for a note. degewo's flats are also listed on ImmoScout24 and inberlinwohnen.de.

Read the flat's details (Exposé) first. They say whether the flat needs a WBS, an income within a band, or a minimum age, as some senior residences do. degewo considers only requests from people who meet every requirement.

Don't call or write to ask how your request is doing: degewo says it doesn't speed anything up.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo, flat search · Senate of Berlin, answer 19/23026

2. The second form

Soon after your request, degewo sends an email with the subject „Bestätigung Ihrer Anfrage“ (confirmation of your request). It doesn't yet confirm that your request counts: it asks you to fill in a form so that degewo can record your request. Tap „Formular ausfüllen“.

The form, on degewo's letting portal vermietung.degewo.de, asks about your household: your phone number, how many people will move in and how many of them are children, the household's monthly net income, who the request is for and, for a flat that needs one, your WBS.

Once it's sent, a second email follows, „Formularbestätigung“ (form confirmation): now degewo has your request, and it says working through it takes a few days.

The email gives no deadline. Fill in the form the same day all the same: until you do, degewo hasn't recorded your request, and in the emails we've seen, a request left at this step got no further email.

No email? Look in your spam folder.

Applied with FlatStrike? The app sends your request through the form on the flat's page, and degewo answers it with this email too. Look for „Bestätigung Ihrer Anfrage“ in your inbox and tap „Formular ausfüllen“.

Sources: degewo's emails to an applicant, September to November 2026 · degewo's form after a request

3. The draw

Many people ask for each flat, so a random draw decides who is invited to a viewing. degewo says everyone who meets the requirements has the same chance.

If you aren't drawn, degewo says so: an email „Neue Nachricht“ (new message) says that, because of the high demand, it can't offer you a viewing. In the emails we've seen, it came two to three weeks after the form.

Each request is in its own flat's draw: the more flats you ask for, the more draws you are in.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo's emails to an applicant, September to November 2026

4. Booking the viewing

If you're drawn, the email „Einladung zur Besichtigung“ (invitation to a viewing) asks you to pick a slot: tap „Termin wählen“. The email names no deadline.

„Bestätigung Ihres Besichtigungstermins“ then confirms the slot, with a calendar file and a link to change or cancel it („Termin ändern/absagen“). A reminder, „Erinnerung an Ihren Besichtigungstermin“, comes the day before. If degewo adds slots, it writes „Neue Termine“ (new slots).

Can't make it? Cancel through the same link.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo's emails to an applicant, October 2026

5. The viewing

Bring a valid ID card or passport: degewo's staff check it briefly at the viewing.

For a flat whose tenant still lives there, degewo gives that tenant your first and last name for the viewing. Whatever the tenant tells you, degewo alone decides who rents the flat next.

Sources: degewo's emails to an applicant, October 2026 · degewo, privacy notice for applicants · degewo, letting process

6. Saying you want the flat

If you still want the flat after the viewing, say so in degewo's online form. It asks, for example, when you'd like the tenancy to start and your household's net income.

degewo expects the household's net income to be about three times the total monthly rent.

Source: degewo, letting process

7. The documents

If you're on the shortlist (engere Auswahl), degewo asks for more details and your documents, which you upload online. Don't send any before it asks: degewo doesn't process documents it didn't ask for.

What it usually asks for:

• payslips for the last three months, which have to match the income you gave;
• a certificate from your current landlord that you paid the rent;
• for a flat that needs one, your WBS;
• a credit check, through degewo's own link and form. Don't send a SCHUFA report of your own: degewo deletes it at once.

Pensioners, the self-employed, trainees, students and people on benefits prove their income in other ways, which degewo's page lists. You may black out whatever a document says that the letting doesn't need.

Then degewo checks everything and decides. If it picks you, it gets in touch to agree the contract and a day on which you sign it in person.

degewo's emails ask you to have these documents ready as files by the viewing. Have them ready before your first request: what a landlord may ask for, and when, is in our guide Applying for a flat.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo, spotting fraud · degewo's emails to an applicant, October 2026

Flats that need a WBS

Many degewo flats need a WBS or an income at a WBS's level, and the flat's details say which: WBS 100, 140, 160, 180 or 220, or a WBS for special housing needs (mit besonderem Wohnbedarf). Some flats are for one income band only, such as more than 140% and up to 220% of the federal income limit: an income above the band rules you out as much as one below it.

Not sure whether you'd get a WBS? Our WBS calculator works it out in a minute; degewo has a quick check of its own, its WBS-Schnellcheck.

Sources: degewo, flat search · degewo, what to know about the WBS · degewo's request form for a WBS flat, October 2026 · degewo, WBS-Schnellcheck

No money, no messengers

degewo charges no commission and asks for no money: every form confirmation says that nobody working for degewo will ask you to pay. Sign no pre-contract and transfer no money.

degewo gets in touch in person, by phone or by email, never through WhatsApp or another messenger. Its flats are listed on degewo.de, ImmoScout24 and inberlinwohnen.de, and its buildings carry its logo.

In early 2025, fake brokers offered degewo's new flats in WhatsApp and Instagram groups for up to €13,000 in "commission"; degewo filed criminal complaints. degewo never offers a contract to download and never asks for a payment to an account abroad.

For a flat whose tenant still lives there: don't pay that tenant a large sum for furniture or anything else they leave you.

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo, spotting fraud · Senate of Berlin, answer 19/23026 · Berliner Zeitung, 27 January 2025 · Berliner Kurier, 20 February 2025 · degewo's emails to an applicant, September to November 2026

Questions people ask about degewo

Does degewo ask for a SCHUFA report?

Not your own: degewo doesn't process a SCHUFA report you send and deletes it at once. You fill in its credit check only once it asks, through its own link and form; its privacy notice names the agencies Creditreform Berlin Brandenburg and Regis 24. degewo says you can also lodge a guarantor's declaration (Bürgschaftserklärung), again only once it asks (more on this).

Do I need a WBS for a degewo flat?

For many of its flats you need a WBS or an income at a WBS's level; the listing says which. For an income at a WBS's level you need no certificate from the housing office, as degewo checks your income itself. Where a flat needs a WBS, you show it during the letting process (more on this).

Do I need an account with degewo?

Not for the request: you send it through the contact form on the flat's page, with your name, email address and phone number. You open the later steps through the links in degewo's emails, on its letting portal vermietung.degewo.de, a Wohnungshelden portal. „Meine degewo“ is degewo's service portal for its tenants (more on this).

How long does degewo take to answer?

A few days, degewo writes in the email „Formularbestätigung“ that follows the second form. It invites to a viewing whoever the random draw picks; if you aren't drawn, it writes to say so. degewo says calling or writing to ask doesn't speed anything up (more on this).

What happens after I send a request to degewo?

degewo answers with the email „Bestätigung Ihrer Anfrage“: tap „Formular ausfüllen“ in it and send the second form, or degewo doesn't record your request. Then a random draw decides who is invited to a viewing (more on this).

What documents does degewo want?

None until you're on the shortlist: then usually payslips for the last three months, a certificate from your landlord that you paid the rent, for a flat that needs one your WBS, and the credit check through degewo's link. At the latest when you sign, you show your ID card or passport with your registration certificate (Meldebescheinigung); degewo wants no copies of them (more on this).

Sources: degewo, letting process · degewo, privacy notice for applicants · degewo, what to know about the WBS · degewo, flat search · degewo, letting portal · degewo, service portal „Meine degewo“ · degewo's emails to an applicant, September to November 2026