In order to support you with your housing search, we partner with a selected group of providers offering both furnished and unfurnished rental options. Our partners also provide the important "Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung", which is a certificate you will need in order to register your residence in Germany. This certificate will then allow you to open a bank account and receive your tax ID.
We highly recommend starting with a furnished apartment the first 2-4 months after your arrival. That way you can deal with the required paperwork of the last steps of your process, settle down, and find out in which area of the city you would like to live.
Our best recommendation for temporary housing is
Homelike ⭐⭐⭐
Homelike is the leading platform for long-stay furnished apartments (>1 month) with transparent pricing. My tip for you: Use the instant booking filter for guaranteed immediate booking. You need to create an account, but that way we can also support you if you encounter any problems with the provider.Start your booking with Homelike now
Homelike also offers an Apartment Search form that connects you with our Localyze support assistant that will send you recommendations based on your preference. Please enter Localyze as "company name" or in the comments. This will connect you directly to our contact person.
Long-term / permanent housing
Renting a long-term apartment requires time and patience and it is therefore best to search for one with no time pressure once you have arrived in Germany. You will have to visit apartments in personal, and most likely quite a few apartments, sometimes together with many others, before actually having success. Please make sure that you have all the necessary documents ready when visiting apartments, which in the majority of the cases is:
your work contract (Arbeitsvertrag)
as well as the German Schufa (which is a document that you need to order that shows that you do not have any debts in Germany)
often a statement from your former landlord that you have always paid your rent (Mietschuldenfreiheit)
your passport
and - last but not least - an application form (usually provided beforehand or during the viewing)
You can search for long-term, unfurnished apartments on Immobilienscout24 or Immowelt These are the biggest providers, who by the way also provide the option to organise the Schufa for you.
If you are looking for more hands-on support in your home search, we also offer different housing packages. In case you are interested to know more, feel free to reach out to me.
We will list a few other providers below for you to browse:
Wunderflats
Wunderflat offers a large selection of furnished apartments in different price ranges that are great to start with when you move to Germany.
You can also receive the landlord confirmation that is required for your registration in the city.
Spotahome
Spotahome is a platform for apartments and studios as well as rooms in shared apartments from mid- to long-term. The platform provides video visits and 360-degree photos.
🔥 SPOTAHOME offers a 15% discount on Tenant Fee for Tenants with the Localyze Voucher code: LOCALYZE15
Airbnb or hotels?
Please note that renting a flat on Airbnb or in a hotel is not a good idea. Airbnb landlords usually don't provide you with the "Wohnungsgeberbestätigung", the landlord confirmation that is required for you to be able to register your residence and proceed with the remaining paperwork of your immigration. When booking an Airbnb or hotel, please make sure to clarify with them first if they would be able to issue you the landlord confirmation.
Local Housing providers
HAMBURG: City Wohnen ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
City-Wohnen is one of the largest agencies and pioneers for temporary furnished living in Hamburg. They broker furnished studios and apartments for rent in Hamburg for a minimum period of 3 months. From the beginning of your search to the conclusion of a rental contract, they organize everything for you.
BERLIN: WeFindFlats
WeFindFlats provides a platform that makes finding temporary housing fast and effortless by removing the stress of searching yourself and by shortlisting exclusive offers highly tailored to your individual budget and needs.
BERLIN (and more): Rentberry
Rentberry is a rental platform that connects tenants and landlords. They deliver a set of tools to streamline your rental experience from submitting your applications, credit reports and custom offers, to e-signing rental agreements and online rental payments.
You can find apartments not only in Berlin, but also in many other small cities in Germany. Search fro your town and find out.
Long-term renting
PerchPeek ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
If you are looking for more hands-on support in your home search, PerchPeek is a digital relocation service that will help you with everything from finding a home in the right neighbourhood, to shipping your stuff and planning your local registration appointments.
With a variety of packages that all include ongoing support from relocation experts in their award-winning App, the PerchPeek team will help your relocation be a smooth one.
If you are planning to do your own search for a long term solution and your own apartment to stay in, these are your go-to places:
https://www.wg-gesucht.de/ (shared and non-shared apartments)
Keep in mind, those offers are public and receive many requests within minutes after their publications. You have to be very quick.
💡 We know, house hunting can be challenging, especially in larger cities where you don't know the "unwritten rules". We offer accompanied flat searches, where we help you with the search and also accompany you to the viewing. Get in touch with your case manager to learn more about the conditions.