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Accommodation

Housing information and assistance

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The housing application is exclusively provided for visitors of the mpipks in order to request housing assistance. Please complete it. It is automatically forwarded to the mpipks housing assistant. Please inform the Visitors Program if you do not need housing assistance. If your plans change after sending the form, please provide updated information. The Visitors Program reserves a room either in the institute's guest houses or in a hotel for the first month of your stay. This time should be sufficient to find a suitable apartment.

Apartment types

There exists a large number of unfurnished apartments all over the city. Apartments with fitted kitchen (i.e. kitchen furniture and equipment) are harder to find, though. The market for completely furnished apartments is quite small. Therefore, finding a flat matching your requirements depends on a certain flexibility especially with regard to the distance from the institute.

Duration of the contract

In most cases the rent contract does not fix a minimum running time. It has an open end and can be canceled with a three month notice period. Sometimes a contract for one year minimum is required for furnished apartments.

The rent

In Germany the total rent for an apartment consists of two different parts. The so-called cold rent is the basic rent depending on the size of the appartment. Additional costs for water and heating are added, the so-called warm rent. Normally, costs for electricity and telephone are not included in the rent. Then, a separate contract with the particular company has to be arranged.

Deposit, brokerage

Almost all landlords require a deposit of money for their safety. By law it is limited to 1-3 months cold rent. Lately, it occurs that more and more estate agencies levy a brokerage.

TV and radio licence fee

There is a TV and radio licence fee to be paid by every household. The responsible public authority is the ARD ZDF Deutschlandradio Beitragsservice (GEZ).

Notice period

Please be aware of the fact that the legal notice period (time between the cancellation of your apartment's contract and your moving) is three months (unless stated differently in your rent contract).

Renovation

Most rent contracts include a stipulation that the apartment has to be returned in the same renovated and cleaned condition as it was when you moved in. It is recommendable to engage a company taking care of this rather than doing it yourself. The price for the renovation depends on the size and condition of the apartment.

Dashboard

If you are about to leave the institute and would like to offer your apartment/ your furniture/ etc. to your fellow mpipks scientists please use our dashboard.

Please do not hesitate to contact Vivien Scherr for further information: housing@pks.mpg.de