Which tricks do landlords use in Berlin?

Many readers and people I talk to report significant challenges when renting in Berlin, especially as newcomers. The city has implemented rent control laws (Mietpreisbremse) with the aim to protect tenants from excessive rents.

The rent controls themselves are problematic and could be extensively debated, but we are not here to discuss the merits of housing market regulation or the economic impact of rent control policies.

While finding legal ways to maximize property value might be fair game, our readers report various practices that raise concerns. After a subscriber responded to my Mietwucher-Check link in issue #135 with their story about the “discount trick,” we’re creating this community-sourced collection of landlord industry tricks - think of it as a “Tricks der Vermieterindustrie,” inspired by Sebastian Lege’s famous exposés of the food industry.

Have you encountered noteworthy practices in Berlin’s rental market? Share your story and help inform others. We’ll keep updating this page as new examples come in. We welcome perspectives from all stakeholders in Berlin’s housing market.

(We added some points from the recent discussion on r/berlinsocialclub, you can read the whole discussion here.)

Note: While this post focuses on potential issues tenants should be aware of, many landlords in Berlin maintain professional and fair practices. For official information about tenant rights and obligations, visit Berlin Senate housing page. If you’re dealing with rental issues, consider consulting with tenant associations or legal professionals.

The “discount” trick (reader e-mail)

Hey there!

Just wanted to share smth that happened to me - might save someone else from falling into the same trap :/
Moved to Berlin 1.5y ago… After a couple of months we had some issues with the place and after complaining about it for a while, the landlord suddenly offered a small rent reduction. They were super pushy about it too, kept saying I needed to decide right away.
Being totally new here and not knowing how things work in Germany (lol), I was like “cool, a discount for the trouble, why not?” Big mistake!!!

Found out later that the actual legal maximum rent for my place should be less than half the current amount because of Mietpreisebremse. But when I tried to address this, the landlord’s lawyer claimed the previous discount agreement constituted a new contract, potentially making the rent control rules inapplicable. Like… wtf??

Turns out this is apparently something to watch out for – a discount could potentially be interpreted as a new rental agreement. If you’re offered any changes to your rent, even reductions, it’s worth getting legal advice first.

So, just wanted to warn others:
- Don’t jump on random rent “discounts”
- Get some legal advice before agreing to ANYTHING - dont let them rush you
- Berlin has some good laws to protect tenants - use them!

Maybe you guys could share this? Could help someone avoid this mess…
Cheers!

Falsifying dates & running a business (reddit)

I’ve seen some really dirty tricks over the years unfortunately:

• With a previous landlord, I signed a contract during the time when the Mietendeckel was in place in Berlin. Since it applied to new contracts too, he falsified the signing date of the contract to be in the past, on the day before Mietendeckel came into force.
• When a friend of mine took over that contract as I moved out, that same landlord had my friend sign his own undated Kündigung before signing the contract, so that he would be able to kick him out easily in case he pursued a rent reduction.
• My current landlord gave me a contract priced not much higher than the maximum allowed by Mietpreisbremse. In order to circumvent this though, the “deal” includes a second, mandatory, contract for the right running a business from home; they falsely claimed this was necessary for home office. I’m currently disputing this together with the Mieterverein.

Lowballing the cost of utilities (reddit)

Unscrupulous landlords will always try to lowball you on the utilities to make the warm rent seem cheaper than it is. Then you could end up paying a thousand or more extra from the Betriebskostenabrechnung, with the equivalent increase in the warm rent going forward.

Tenants not paying rent (reddit)

Almost everyone is focused on dirty tricks by landlords.

Here is a really inhumane trick from tenants.

The tenants who do not care about their credit score can simply stop paying rent by making any kind of excuses regarding defects, mold etc. The landlord can’t kick them out physically. He has to file Räumungsklage to the court which takes 6-12 months and the tenants can simply move to another house without paying any rent arrears. It is very hard to recover the rent. The landlord is stuck with 6-12 month rent loss, high court and lawyer fees and possibly any damages the tenants do to the property.

Big housing agencies can suck up the loss but private landlords can easily go bankrupt.

Scratches on the floor (reddit)

I did some scratches in the floor. The landlord claimed that he couldn’t find a replacement for the exact color of the tiles of the floor and that he would have to repair the entire apartment. Charging me thousands of euros for this

Furnished apartments (reddit)

Renting your apartment furnished so that tenants have to pay more for the ‘convenience’ of using your furniture that they didn’t get to pick… 

[Editor’s Note:
This post is based on reader submissions and publicly available information. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Handpicked Berlin. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.]