Landlord won't allow Anmeldung, Spotahome won't give full refund. What do?

Yeah, the landlord not allowing Anmeldung is almost certainly illegal under Berlin law, but forcing the issue while you're living there can be messy. You can go to the Bürgeramt, explain your situation, and register using the "Wohnungsgeberbestätigung" form you fill out yourself under protest. It's not guaranteed to work smoothly, but many people have done it, especially if you bring your rental contract and proof of payment.

For the money situation, you might be able to get Spotahome to budge if you argue the listing was misleading, but their terms are strict. If you stay through October, you risk the fine which is usually around 50-100 euros, not 1000, if you register late within a few months. I'd take the partial refund, cut your losses, and book a place that explicitly allows Anmeldung for November. Check listings on WG-Gesucht or Immobilienscout with the filter on, it's worth the extra effort.

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honestly, the fine thing is overblown. if you register within a few months it's usually a warning or like 10-20 euros, not 1000. people freak out about that number online but it's for serious cases like years of not registering

for the spotahome thing, check if they have a german customer service line. german consumer protection laws are way stronger than what their terms say, and if you threaten to report them to the verbraucherzentrale they might fold. i've seen it work with other booking platforms here

one thing nobody mentioned is you could just keep the place and do the anmeldung yourself without the landlord's form. go to the bürgeramt with your contract and a written statement explaining the landlord refuses. some clerks are cool about it, some aren't, but it's worth a shot before throwing away 700 euros. the worst they say is no and then you're in the same spot you are now

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If you're both students, check with your university's international office. Lots of them have emergency housing lists or know landlords who do Anmeldung, and sometimes they can even mediate with Spotahome if you explain the situation. It's worth a shot before eating that money.

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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.

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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

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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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