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Wg gesucht- Is this a scam or a real offer?
It's my first time renting a from WG gesucht and I want your advice.
I saw a room posted by a man(the owner or I think a contractor) for a female-only apartment and applied for it.
I'm… Hi everyone,
It's my first time renting a from WG gesucht and I want your advice.
I saw a room posted by a man(the owner or I think a contractor) for a female-only apartment and applied for it.
I'm listing the info for better understanding:
It's a three-room apartment
The deposit is equal to one month's rent
One month notice Periode.
Starting from next month(June)
I had the visit and had a long conversation with one of the girls living there
She explained that the girl I'll be taking her room was traveling to the city she is moving out to and the other girl is also out of Berlin right now.
she mentioned that the TV tax is deducted from her account every 3 months and she will be splitting the cost between the three of us.
I had a conversation with the contractor and asked him to pay rent in cash and he agreed
according to both the contractor and the girl, I'll have Anmeldung and can have my name on the post and doorbell
The next day I got a message from the contractor he said the girl chose me to take the room out of 9 girls and he asked me to move the conversation to Whatsapp and asked me for the following:
Send him a photo of my ID and visa or residency to write a contract.
He mentioned that he would write a contract and send me a copy to read before I sign it.
He said after I sign the contract he will give me all the papers for Anmeldung
I asked him when the girl I'm renting her room will do Abmeldung and he said he doesn't know but I don't need to worry.
I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I'm just trying not to fall for a scam because I can't afford it.
Is this a good deal? this is how WG works or there is something fishy? And what precautions do I have to take? Please advise
Thanks :)
A couple of small things worth checking that the others haven't touched. First, the Rundfunkbeitrag: it's per household, not per person, so if you're moving into an already-registered flat the Beitragsservice just needs your name added to the existing account. Nobody should be "splitting" it as if it's a fresh bill each time. Log into rundfunkbeitrag.de with the flat's Beitragsnummer and confirm what's actually being paid before you agree to hand over any cash for it.
Second, the doorbell and mailbox name. That sounds minor but it's your proof of address for basically everything here, bank, SIM, insurance. Ask to see it actually changed before you pay the first rent, not "he'll do it later." I've seen people stuck for weeks with no Konto because the Klingelschild still showed the old name.
Third, June 1 start with the current tenant still in the flat and not deregistering is a scheduling mess. Either she does the Abmeldung before you move in, or you accept that your Anmeldung is delayed until she does. Get her to commit to a date in the chat, not him. If she's genuinely out of Berlin, that's fine, she can still deregister by mail with the Burgeramt, it just needs doing.
honestly the whatsapp move + ID photo before any contract is the part that would make me pause. asking for your passport/visa scan upfront is pretty common in WG stuff but usually only after you've both agreed and there's a real contract draft in hand, not as the first step. the cash rent thing is normal-ish here, lots of private landlords do it, but combined with "he's the contractor not the owner" and "the girl will do Abmeldung whenever" it gets murky.
the Anmeldung thing matters more than people think. for the Bürgeramt you need a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung signed by whoever actually owns or rents the flat, and if this guy is just a subletting middleman you want to see that he has permission (Untermieterlaubnis) from the main landlord. ask for the name on the Grundbuch or the Hauptmietvertrag, or at least a written confirmation he's allowed to sublet. if he dodges that, walk.
the "you were chosen out of 9 girls" line is a classic pressure move, don't let it rush you. meet the actual flatmates again if you can, and don't send money or your ID until you've read a real contract with the landlord's name on it.
The cash rent part is the thing I'd push back on, not because it's illegal but because it leaves you with zero proof of payment. If you do pay cash, ask for a signed Quittung every single month with the amount, the month, and his signature. Without that you have no leg to stand on if he later claims you didn't pay.
The Abmeldung answer is a real problem though. She can't just do it "whenever" because for your Anmeldung the Burgeramt wants the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung to match who's actually registered there. If she's still angemeldet on that room when you go, it can get flagged or refused. Ask her directly, not him, for the date she'll deregister and get it in writing over WhatsApp.
One more thing: three months of Rundfunkbeitrag split three ways is roughly 6 euro each per month, so if she's asking for more than that, question it. The current fee is 18.36 euro per flat per month, that's the number to check against.
What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.
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