I lost my job, I will prob have to move back home (EU), but I still have more than one more year of contract: what are my options?

fwiw i was in a similar spot last year and ended up just talking to my landlord straight up. most berlin landlords are used to people leaving early because of work or visa stuff, especially in places like neukölln or wedding where turnover is high. mine let me out with 2 months notice and even helped find a nachmieter, no drama

one thing nobody mentioned yet is the hausverwaltung vs the actual landlord. if your contract is through a hausverwaltung they're usually less flexible than a private person who owns the building. check who you're dealing with before you go in hot

also if you do sublet, the "berliner mietspiegel" means you can't charge more than the local average rent, so dont try to make money off it even if you wanted to. the rent you pay is prob already close to what you can charge anyway

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the other replies covered the legal stuff pretty well, so i'll add something practical. if you do try to find a nachmieter, the landlord might push back on the rent price - they can't just jack it up to market rate for a new tenant in berlin right now because of the mietpreisbremse, but they could try to get you to agree to a higher rate in the handover. don't sign anything that increases your liability

also, the painting clause is boilerplate but check if you actually painted when you moved in. if the walls were freshly painted before you arrived, you might owe it back, but if they were already lived-in and you just kept them clean, most landlords in neukölln or friedrichshain won't bother chasing you for it especially if you're leaving the country

one thing nobody mentioned: your kaution. if you terminate early and the landlord finds a new tenant quickly, you should get it back within a few months. but if they drag their feet and use the contract term to hold it, you might have to push them legally. ask upfront in writing how they handle kaution release for early exits

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yeah so first off, don't stress about the painting thing, that's standard in german contracts but rarely enforced if the apartment is in decent shape after a year

you can definitely ask the landlord about terminating early, especially with your situation. german law actually lets you break a fixed-term contract if you have a valid reason like job loss or moving back home, but you'd need to give proper notice (usually 3 months)

subletting is possible but you need the landlord's written permission, and they can say no. if you do sublet, you're still on the hook if the subtenant stops paying or damages stuff, so only do it if you trust the person

honestly, your cleanest option is to explain the situation to the landlord, offer to find a replacement tenant (Untermieter or Nachmieter), and see if they'll let you out early. many landlords prefer that over dealing with a sublet mess

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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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