Check that you're allowed to
- If you rent the flat yourself, letting rooms is subletting (Untervermietung). Ask your landlord for permission in writing before you advertise.
- If you own the flat, check the building's rules (Teilungserklärung, Hausordnung) and tell the property manager.
- Decide who signs what: individual contracts with each flatmate, or one main tenant who sublets. Individual contracts are simpler when people move out at different times.
Decide what kind of WG it is
- A practical WG (Zweck-WG) shares a flat. A social WG cooks and spends evenings together. Say which one it is in your listing: it's the first thing people ask.
- Think about who fits: students, professionals, a mix, an age range. It's fine to say so, as long as you don't exclude people for their background, religion or gender identity.
Set the rent and the costs
- Price each room on its size, light, balcony and whether it has its own bathroom, not just by dividing the total.
- Decide whether the rent is warm (bills included) or cold plus bills, and how heating, water, electricity and internet are split.
- The deposit can be at most three months' cold rent (§ 551 BGB). Keep it separate from your own money.
- The broadcasting fee (Rundfunkbeitrag) is paid once per flat, not per person. Agree who pays it and how it's split.
Set up the shared things
- Put internet, electricity and gas in one person's name and share the cost through a shared account or an app.
- Write down a few house rules before the first viewing, so everyone who moves in agrees to the same ones.
- Smoke detectors are required in bedrooms and hallways in every German state. Check them before anyone moves in.
