HOUSING

OVERVIEW

The majority of Germans rent as opposed to purchasing property. Despite this, the market is not flooded with properties and few landlords will rent to foreigners who do not yet have residency here. Sometimes it takes a few months to find long term accommodation needs that are a perfect fit for you and your family, but we will initially find you a place for August either way.

When Germans move, they can often take their kitchen cabinets and light fixtures with them. It can take up-to six weeks to get a kitchen fitted.

We first rely on empty apartments that are being vacated by departing staff or families. These often already have kitchens. Landlords are more comfortable transferring the lease and departing staff may sell you their furniture. Otherwise these apartments are ‘naked’.  Faculty vacated apartments may not fit your needs exactly but if they have a kitchen, are well located, will be available on day one when you arrive, are within your price range but have one less bedroom than you really need, they might be a good stop gap.

If these departing staff apartments do not fit your needs, then we will help you look for temporary furnished or unfurnished accommodation which you can move on from after finding your own apartment (with our support) after arrival. Unfurnished temporary accommodation leases are hard to find and they often have no kitchen.

Links to finding permanent accommodation  can be found at Immobilien Scout. The school’s zip code is 30169. You can check the box that filters for properties with fitted kitchens included (Einbauküche). Also ebay-kleinanzeigen is the German craigslist equivalent where accommodation and other goods can be found in the Hannover Region.

LOOKING FOR HOUSING

When you first arrive you will be put up at the Pelikan Hotel in the List area of Hannover until you find permanent accommodation.

If you look for apartments online (e.g. on immobilienscout24.de) be aware that a lot of the apartments on there are rented through real estate agents. In that case, you sometimes have to pay their commission (Maklerprovision) which amounts to at least 2 “cold” rents usually. ("Cold" and "warm" rents are explained further below.)

Another option is often to look for ads in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (local paper, usually abbreviated to HAZ, pronounced "hats"). Rentals can mainly be found in the Saturday paper and a few in the Wednesday edition. The print edition ads can also be found online: http://immo.haz.de/. You do need to know the basic abbreviations. Here’s a list of the most common:

• EG = Erdgeschoss (ground floor). Hochparterre can also be called EG but is usually a few steps up (so nobody will be looking directly into your window).

• 1. OG = 1. Obergeschoss (1st floor)

• DG = Dachgeschoss (Top floor – be aware that especially Altbau-houses rarely have elevators)

• Altbau = the house was built before 1949 and has architectural typical features for this era . Apartments in these houses are very popular as they usually have original parquet floors (Parkett), high ceilings and sometimes even stucco (Stuck). However, a lot of the time the standard of these apartments cannot compare to the newer ones. So it depends what you’re looking for…

• 3ZKB = 3-Zimmer-Küche-Bad (3 rooms plus kitchen and bath)

Leasing a car for a few days on your arrival so that you can make some furniture and appliance runs is a great way to get up and running. Alternately, your buddy and the school will help you with transporting big boxes as necessary. It is possible to get to these places by tram and bus, but it is less convenient.

When you look at fees payable for a Hannover apartment, you will sometimes find two charges. One is for the base rent and the other is to cover electricity, water and taxes. The full amount is usually payable to the landlord but sometimes represents all rent and utilities commitments. Check if gas is included as often tenants can be responsible for set up and ongoing costs.

If we do not put you up in the Pelikan Guesthouse, we pay your first month’s rent up to €1000. However, this amount needs to be taxed like an income. As an alternative to the first month’s rent, new teachers may opt for a tax-free settling in allowance of €657,00. In Germany, you often have to pay a deposit of about 3 months’ rent as security when you rent your own apartment. We can advance a sum for a rental deposit in the form of a loan to you, if necessary, which will be deducted from your salary starting in the third month of employment for a ten-month period.

ACCOMODATION COSTS

An apartment in Hannover could easily be €1000. However, it really depends how many bedrooms you want, how many square meters, deck space and what neighborhood you would like. Check out Immobilien Scout with the following zip codes.

Zip codes to look where staff live and bike/tram to work from are: The List: 30163 / Zoo: 30175 / Mitte: 30159 / Nordstadt: 30167 / Südstadt: 30171/30173 / Linden: 30449 / Oststadt 30161

Information about different areas and their character: