Renting a flat in Berlin

The steps

Viewings in Berlin often come at short notice and during the day. Search in several ways at once, and have your papers ready before you start.

From the first search to the Anmeldung

Source: Willkommenszentrum Berlin, Housing search

What a flat costs

A listing names a few figures. These are what they mean:

• Cold rent (Kaltmiete, Nettokaltmiete): the rent for the flat alone, without operating and heating costs. The rent cap and the Mietspiegel start from it.
• Operating costs (Nebenkosten, Betriebskosten): what you pay for the building's running costs, usually as a monthly advance that is settled once a year. Which costs may be passed on is fixed by the Betriebskostenverordnung; administration and repairs never are.
• Warm rent (Warmmiete): the cold rent plus operating and heating costs. Electricity comes on top.
• Deposit (Kaution): at most three months' cold rent. You may pay it in three monthly instalments, the first when the tenancy starts. The landlord keeps it at a bank, apart from their own money, at the usual savings rate; the interest is yours.
• Broker's commission (Provision): since 1 June 2015, whoever hires the broker pays. You pay only if you hired the broker yourself and they looked for the flat for you alone.
• Broadcasting fee (Rundfunkbeitrag): €18.36 a month per flat, however many people live in it.

The rent cap

The Mietpreisbremse covers all of Berlin from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029. The rent of a new tenancy may be at most 10 % above the local reference rent, which the Berliner Mietspiegel 2026 sets out, in force since 28 May 2026.

It doesn't apply to a flat first used and let after 1 October 2014, or to the first letting after a comprehensive modernisation. A landlord may also ask as much as the previous tenant last paid, if that was more.

Two kinds of contract change the rent by themselves: with a Staffelmiete it rises by steps written in the contract, at most once a year; with an Indexmiete it follows consumer prices. The rent cap applies to each step, and to an index rent's starting rent.

To have your rent checked, the Mietpreisprüfstelle advises all tenant households in Berlin, for free.

Sources: § 551 BGB · Berliner Mietratgeber, operating costs · § 2 Wohnungsvermittlungsgesetz · rundfunkbeitrag.de · §§ 556d to 556f BGB · § 557a and § 557b BGB · berlin.de, rent cap extended until 2029 · Senate press release on the Mietspiegel 2026, 28 May 2026

Your papers

SCHUFA

SCHUFA is Germany's largest credit agency, and many landlords ask for its report. The one made for them is the SCHUFA-BonitätsCheck, a PDF with no score, for €29.95. The data copy (Datenkopie) is free and shows everything SCHUFA holds about you; it is for you, and a landlord may not demand it. Since 17 March 2026 a free SCHUFA account shows your data and score too.

New to Germany? If SCHUFA doesn't know you yet, you get no score, and companies are told that no data exists. Once you have a current account or another bank contract, it works out a full score. What you can show besides: proof of income, and if your income alone isn't enough, a written guarantee, from your parents for example.

Proof of income

A payslip, a bank statement or your income tax assessment, as a copy, with what the landlord doesn't need blacked out. A landlord may only ask for it once they have chosen you.

A WBS, if you can get one

Many flats of the state-owned landlords are let only to households with a Wohnberechtigungsschein (WBS), which shows that your income is within a limit. You can apply if you're 18 or older, a German or EU citizen or hold a residence permit valid for at least a year, and stay in Berlin for at least 11 months. It's free and usually valid for a year. Not in Berlin yet? Send the application to any Berlin Bürgeramt or Wohnungsamt. It can take weeks or months, so apply early.

The WBS calculator works out which WBS your household can get, and its guide lists the documents.

Sources: SCHUFA, BonitätsCheck · SCHUFA, Fehlende Daten · Datenschutzkonferenz, guidance on self-disclosures, part C · Verbraucherzentrale, Die erste Wohnung · service.berlin.de, WBS beantragen · Willkommenszentrum Berlin, WBS

Where flats are listed

• Listing portals, where private landlords, property managers and brokers list their flats.
• The state-owned landlords, degewo, GESOBAU, Gewobag, HOWOGE, STADT UND LAND, WBM and berlinovo, let almost one in four of Berlin's rented flats. They list them on their own sites and together on inberlinwohnen.de. Until the end of 2027, 63 % of the flats they let again go to households with a WBS.
• Housing cooperatives (Genossenschaften) hold about 190,000 flats. To rent one you become a member and buy shares, which you get back when you leave. Many can't take new members at present.
• Temporary flats and sublets are common. Check that the landlord has approved the let: if not, you often can't register at that address.

FlatStrike's lists hold Berlin's new flats, by district and by room count, such as 2-room flats, and the flats that need a WBS.

Sources: Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, the state-owned housing companies · inberlinwohnen.de · Kooperationsvereinbarung 2024 to 2027 · Berliner Mietratgeber, kinds of flat · Wohnungsbaugenossenschaften Deutschland, becoming a member · BBU via dpa, 3 July 2026 · Willkommenszentrum Berlin, Housing search

The viewing

• Bring your ID to show. The landlord may check it but not copy it.
• Look at the energy certificate (Energieausweis): the landlord has to show it at the viewing at the latest.
• Check the flat's state, and note defects you see; they belong in the handover record later.
• Make sure the landlord, the manager or the broker is there in person.
• Never pay for a viewing. Apart from the commission, a broker may take no fee of any kind, and reputable landlords don't charge for one.

Sources: Datenschutzkonferenz, guidance, part A · § 80 Gebäudeenergiegesetz · § 3 Wohnungsvermittlungsgesetz · Police crime prevention, fraud in flat searches

Applying

Germany's data protection authorities set out what a landlord may ask, and when:

1. At the viewing: your name and address, and for a social flat whether you have a WBS.
2. When you say you want the flat: how many people move in, your job and employer, your net income (saying it's above an amount is enough), and pets they have to allow. Usually in a self-disclosure form, the Mieterselbstauskunft.
3. When they have chosen you: proof of income and a credit report made for landlords.

They may never ask about your nationality, religion, marital status, pregnancy or plans for children, nor for your previous landlord's contact details. Many landlords ask for a certificate that you owe no rent (Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung), but they may not demand it: your landlord doesn't have to issue one.

The guide to applying for a flat has the full list, the application file and two templates for your messages.

If a landlord turns you away because of your origin, the Fair mieten – Fair wohnen office advises you for free, in your language if you ask.

Sources: Datenschutzkonferenz, guidance, version 2.0 (January 2026) · Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection, Selbstauskunft · Fair mieten – Fair wohnen, counselling

Scams

Offers to sell you a Bürgeramt appointment or a registration certificate aren't official either, and are often scams.

If you've already paid: ask your bank at once to recall the payment, report the fraud to the police, and report the listing to the portal.

Sources: Police crime prevention (8 October 2026) · Verbraucherzentrale, Fake-Wohnungen im Internet (7 August 2026) · Willkommenszentrum Berlin, Anmeldung

Signing and moving in

• Read the contract before you sign, and look for a Staffelmiete or an Indexmiete. A Staffelmiete may rule out your notice for up to four years.
• Make a handover record (Übergabeprotokoll) when you get the keys: every defect, the meter readings, ideally with photos, signed by both of you. Without one, write a list of defects right after signing and send it to the landlord.
• Get the landlord's confirmation (Wohnungsgeberbestätigung). The landlord must give it within two weeks of your move-in, and you need it for the Anmeldung; the rental contract doesn't replace it.
• Notice: you can end the tenancy by the third working day of a month, to the end of the month after next, so with about three months' notice.

Sources: § 557a BGB · § 573c BGB · Verbraucherzentrale NRW, Die Wohnungsbesichtigung (2018) · Berliner Mieterverein, Info 03, Wohnungssuche in Berlin (2019) · § 19 Bundesmeldegesetz · service.berlin.de, Anmeldung

The Anmeldung

Everyone who moves into a flat in Germany registers their address within two weeks: in Berlin, within 14 days of moving in.

• In person: book an appointment at any Bürgeramt in Berlin, and bring the registration form, your ID card or passport, and the landlord's confirmation. For a first registration in Berlin you may also need civil status certificates, such as a marriage or birth certificate.
• Online: if you're 18 or older and a German or EU citizen, with a BundID account and an ID card or EU eID card whose online function is on. It doesn't work with an electronic residence permit (eAT).
• It's free, and in person you get the registration certificate (Meldebestätigung) at once.

Not registering, or registering late, can cost a fine of up to €1,000. Registering where you don't live isn't allowed, and offering someone an address for it can cost up to €50,000.

Sources: service.berlin.de, Anmeldung (120686) · § 17, § 19 and § 54 Bundesmeldegesetz · Willkommenszentrum Berlin, Anmeldung

Free help

• Your district's tenant advice: every district advises the tenants who live there for free, on the contract, rent increases, modernisation and notice. It doesn't represent you in court.
• The Mietpreisprüfstelle: checks your rent for free, for any tenant household in Berlin.
• Fair mieten – Fair wohnen: free advice when you meet discrimination on the housing market, in your language if you ask.
• The Willkommenszentrum Berlin: free counselling for newcomers in several languages, with housing pages in English.
• The Berliner Mieterverein: a tenants' association, €132 a year after a €7.50 joining fee, for at least 24 months. Its advice is in German.

Sources: Senate Department, tenant advice in the districts · Mietpreisprüfstelle · Fair mieten – Fair wohnen · Willkommenszentrum Berlin · Berliner Mieterverein, fees and English page