We're making a short documentary about Berlin's rental market

Despite the many foreigners, politicians and lobbyists flocking there, Berlin's rental market is by far not the most difficult (and expensive) in Germany. Why don't you make a movie about Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Munich (in this order of becoming more severe) instead?

Thanks for your reply. I’m living and studying in Berlin so I don’t have the same knowledge about Frankfurt, Hamburg or any other German city. Also I’ve heard from a lot of people on how Berlin is changing (especially in the last few years) and wish to get people’s views on that.

Yes, you're right: Berlin is changing - becoming more "normal" like the other big German cities.

Hello: I just moved temporarily to Berlin and it was almost a disaster. We found a bonafide apartment to sublet at the end, but we almost were victims of a huge scam online, which I can tell you about if it is helpful. The company and individuals using the company to scam potential short term tenants seeking furnished apartments (less than a year) is based in Brooklyn. I complained to the BBB and I can give you all the info if it helps.
L

Keyl: It would be good to post the information about this scamming company here, to warn others.
But please keep a factual, truthful language, so as to not open yourself up for unnecessary litigation. (You never know with such people!)

Well as I said, I have a very public post on that in the BBB website, and a brief email exchange with a "landlady" who uses the platform to advertise an apartment that is not really hers and belongs to a guy in Air BnB. I also warned him about that. So yes, I can post these things on Friday, when I am done with a deadline and I want to see anybody from that company trying to sue ME for for bringing forward THEIR lack of ethics. (not to mention there are MANY complaints about similar issues with them in BBB). I'm shocked they can even exist and operate

A Google search for "BBB" brought up a multitude of sites, from a German bank over a bike shop, burger joint, a public servants' association to even a Wikipedia page listing 30 more meanings of the abbreviation. But none seems to fit what you wrote above.
Maybe you can explain?

bbb.de seems to be an alias for HRS, a hotel booking website. Is that where you looked for an apartment?

The Platform is called ROOMSTER. Is a nest for fake advertisement, fake contacts, fake people , fake apartments and pure scam, on the part of the company charging a fee (which I never paid, thank god) and the users advertising apartments. Below you can see a few emails exchanged with one of the people to whom I sent a message regarding her apartment. Her name in the website is different from the name she signs with or the email address she uses in the platform.
Finally, she is not the owner of the apartment and I had a few exchanges with the real owner of the apartment regarding this issue. I have erased the address of the apartment.


Hello

I'm contacting you about your interest in renting my apartment situated in ....... 10119 Berlin.
The monthly rent price is 500EUR, including all utilities (gas / electricity / phone / cable / internet / parking / heating), and its for an indefinite period.
The apartment is in good condition, clean and ready to use. The apartment is available for a long-term rent, so you can stay there how long you want.
In general I have rented with AirBnB my flat and it`s safe 100 %.
Airbnb provides an online platform that connects hosts who have accommodations to rent with guests seeking to rent such accommodations.

Regards

Charlotte:

I just found your listing in Air BnB. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/26246641?l … p;adults=1

However, there are some big discrepancies: The price quoted is $65 dollars/night which is FAR BEYOND 500 euros per month.
In addition, it is NOT AVAILABLE from August 1st to October 31st, so even if the price was right, it is impossible to book...
Would you kindly get back to me and tell me whether I got the right listing? We are looking forward making an agreement tomorrow at the latest.
Thanks.
L


BBB's page with complaints against ROOMSTER, including mine

https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/prof … complaints

Hope this helps prevent people from this site being scammed.

Good luck home-hunting!

Actually I cannot find my complaint there and it might be because they only have listed the ones from people who paid into the platform. However I did keep a screenshot of the complaint I submitted and that I can find, as I said, on Friday.

BBB.org is a USA site and not useful for complaining about German businesses.
And roomster.com is also headquartered in the USA and not a common site to find German rentals.
My recommendation: If in Germany, use German or at least EU sites and businesses (check the address in the "Impressum", which all websited here must have!), then you have a much better legal recourse and a lower chance of being cheated in the first place!

Beppi you are obviously NOT from the USA. BBB stand for Better Business Bureau. You are from Germany. I am not aware whether you have a service like that here. I added a link. Please read the complaints upon following the link.

Beppi: you need to only follow the link I posted, you do not even need to google it up. It's all there.

BTW I do not think you have paid attention to what I said. ROOMSTER is NOT a German company. It is an American company. They rent all over the world, including Germany.

The question was how our experience was finding apartments in Berlin.  Nothing was said about HOW or WHERE we looked for apartments. Many of the apartments advertised via roomster ARE apartments with German owners, in Berlin. I think it is pertinent, since many naive people such as ourselves looked for apartments in Berlin in Roomster.

Sorry, but this forum is about Germany.
To my understanding from looking at roomster.com, it is a kind of paid classified ads site.
The complaints about them on bbb.org (I only looked at the first handful) are for charges levied by roomster.com (and I must say the company answered and resolved them very well!).
Being cheated by an individual advertiser on that site is a separate matter (and not necessarily roomster.com's fault).
Of course we have organisations similar to bbb.org in Germany - google "Verbraucherschutz"!

Beppi, you are very funny, you liked your own answer.
I think you are here just for the sake of arguing.
The question was how was our experience findings an apartment. Nothing else was said.
Yes, I will follow your advice and use a European company next time. Hopefully you are right and they are less fishy.
None of this invalidates the fact all over the world people have problems with Roomster, in Germany included. (and you are wrong, they did not solve the claims "very well", you seem to make your decisions upon a quick google search and fin only the information that suits your own feelings)   They have SEVERAL cases in court. And the fact they rank so low in BBB says a LOT as to how dirty they operate.
I do not have anything else to add.

Keyl wrote:

Hello: I just moved temporarily to Berlin and it was almost a disaster. We found a bonafide apartment to sublet at the end, but we almost were victims of a huge scam online, which I can tell you about if it is helpful. The company and individuals using the company to scam potential short term tenants seeking furnished apartments (less than a year) is based in Brooklyn. I complained to the BBB and I can give you all the info if it helps.
L

The project mentioned in the thread happened 2 years ago - so not much possibility of there being any relevance anymore.

Hello Tomin:

yes, I see that. . I actually did not want to participate in the project as much as find a venue to warn others about what's going on with this website. It was not so easy for us to find a place and now we are having problems with it, because the person renting to us is NOT the actual owner, but an original renter subletting to us.  We understood his landlord had allowed him to sublet (we have a contract and receipt for the initial deposit). However:

1- He refuses to sign the card for us to register in the residents bureau. (though at that office they told us that is illegal)

2- He has not replied to our repeated request for the brown composting can he is bound by law to provide (I refuse to discard my compost with the non-recyclable trash)

Since he seems reluctant to comply with normal stuff, I am starting to feel distraught he may do other things he is not supposed to, such as coming into the apartment, for which he has provided us the two only keys he said he had, but I do not know.

Him refusing to sign the registration card is causing us a lot of trouble, as we have an appointment to get our marriage license and we need to be registered ASAP.

If you happen to live in Berlin maybe you have some advice? It would be very much appreciated. I will make a proper post about this later on, maybe somebody has some suggestions that can help too.

You are adding more issues to the original discussion.
Despite you making fun of me, I will still advice as good as I can:
1. You have to register within a week of moving in and may be fined if you don't. If your direct landlord does not sign the form, ask the owner (his landlord). If he/she also declines, go to the offce without their signature and explain the situation. They will either register you without or help you get the signature.
2. Again, ask the owner - garbage containers are normally managed by him and not the tenant. Alternatively, you could request a brown bin yourself from the relevant authority - it may or may not work (and you'd have to pay for it in any case, through the "Nebenkosten").