Fly2YYZ From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 972 posts, RR: 2 Posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 2135 times:
Hello Everyone!
So I recently have a great opportunity of working with an airline as cabin crew either living in Frankfurt or in Dubai. Needless to say Dubai is wonderful and all, but I'm leaning more towards Frankfurt.
Does anyone have any advice about renting a flat in Frankfurt or near the airport? What areas should I look at? I keep on getting warned that it will be expensive which I understand. How does renting a flat work?
MD11Engineer From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13368 posts, RR: 64 Reply 1, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2113 times:
Normally in Germany you´ll check in the local newspapers or on the internet and then get directly iknto contact with the landlord for a visit to the new place. Be warned that in Germany you usually rent a flat completely empty, this means that you´ll have to provide your own furniture including kitchen furniture and household appliances (cooking range,kitchen sink washing machine, lamps etc.), unless it is olffered as "Möbliert" (furnished, which is rare).
You will also often have to re-decorate the place (wallpaper, paint). Most Germans do it themselves.
Landlords usually demand a deposit of 2-3 basic monthly rents as a safeguard against you not paying the rent or damaging the flat. You are supposed to get it returned (including the interest on it, the landlord has to put it on a savings account and can´t use it unless you default) when you m ove out and have fullfilled all obligations.
Rents in Germany are divided into a basic rent plus expenses. The expenses include rubbish removal, janitor services and house maintenance, water, sevage house insurance and tax. The landlord has to give you an exact breakdown once a year.
We also distinguish between a "warm" ( "Warmmiete") rent and a "cold" ("Kaltmiete") one. The warm one includes heating and often water heating.
Electricity and telephone are usually not included in the rent.
You usually have to give three months notice on moving out and leave the place in a decorated condition (usually the cheapest "Rauhfaser" wallpaper and white paint is enough if it looks neat).
The renting contracts are usually unlimited unless you agree to a limited contract. The rents are limited to within a certain range around the local average depending on the quality of the flat.
Best take a local person who knows German customs and laws with you as you could be ripped off easily.
Typical abbreviations in housing adds are:
Z = Zimmer (rooms) In Germany only bedrooms and living room get counted, kitchen, storerooms or corridors are not included.
KDB = Küche (kitchen), Dusche (shower), Bad (Bathroom)
TransIsland From Bahamas, joined Mar 2004, 2032 posts, RR: 11 Reply 2, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 2059 times:
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 1): this means that you´ll have to provide your own furniture including kitchen furniture and household appliances (cooking range,kitchen sink washing machine, lamps etc.)
The landlord is legally required to provide a sink and stove in the kitchen. Though you may not like his choice... many indeed offer fully functional kitchens.
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 1): You will also often have to re-decorate the place (wallpaper, paint). Most Germans do it themselves.
... and leave the place in a decorated condition (usually the cheapest "Rauhfaser" wallpaper and white paint is enough if it looks neat).
Again, legally, it has to be in renovated condition when you move in (as in: not your responsibility), and you have to renovate again when you move out (this time: your responsibility). Though often, landlord's will offer you incentives do do the original job yourself, and then often let you off the hook when you move out. I got lucky, with my two German apartments, I had to do neither, moved in to a renovated place, and moved out without doing any renovations myself.
I'm an aviation expert. I have Sky Juice for breakfast.
MD11Engineer From Germany, joined Oct 2003, 13368 posts, RR: 64 Reply 3, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 2023 times:
Quoting TransIsland (Reply 2): Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 1):
this means that you´ll have to provide your own furniture including kitchen furniture and household appliances (cooking range,kitchen sink washing machine, lamps etc.)
The landlord is legally required to provide a sink and stove in the kitchen. Though you may not like his choice... many indeed offer fully functional kitchens.
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 1):
You will also often have to re-decorate the place (wallpaper, paint). Most Germans do it themselves.
... and leave the place in a decorated condition (usually the cheapest "Rauhfaser" wallpaper and white paint is enough if it looks neat).
Again, legally, it has to be in renovated condition when you move in (as in: not your responsibility), and you have to renovate again when you move out (this time: your responsibility). Though often, landlord's will offer you incentives do do the original job yourself, and then often let you off the hook when you move out. I got lucky, with my two German apartments, I had to do neither, moved in to a renovated place, and moved out without doing any renovations myself.
Depends on the state. E.g. in Berlin the landlord is required to install a kitchen sink and a cooking range (even though some court of law decided that a coal fired stove would be enough), but e.g. in Northrhine-Westfalia or Rhineland-Palatinate this is not the case. I´ve lived in CGN and Mönchengladbach and now in the Hunsrück and there you´ll have to provide your own kitchen furniture.
Thie redecoration issue again depends on your renting contract and the customs in your respective state. I had the bad luck in Berlin once to have to decorate the place twice, once on moving in and again on moving out.
Jan
I don´t know whast the rules are in Hessen though.
TransIsland From Bahamas, joined Mar 2004, 2032 posts, RR: 11 Reply 4, posted (3 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 2005 times:
Didn't know that that was a matter of state. I lived in Berlin, but the first place still had nothing in the kitchen, the second one had plenty poor taste.
The three months notice before moving out, is federal though, right?
I'm an aviation expert. I have Sky Juice for breakfast.
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