{"id":9224,"date":"2020-03-13T13:51:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T12:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.relocation.de\/?p=9224"},"modified":"2021-07-07T10:39:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T08:39:56","slug":"discrimination-on-germanys-residential-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.relocation.de\/en\/discrimination-on-germanys-residential-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Discrimination on Germany\u2019s residential market?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Why is it so\ndifficult for an expat who doesn\u2019t speak German to get accepted as the new\ntenant of a sought-after rental apartment? And what can you do, as an employer\nand employee, to secure success despite these odds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Germany\u2019s\nurban centres, there\u2019s hardly anything more laborious in life than the task of\nfinding an apartment. At least that\u2019s what anyone looking will confirm to you\nwithout exception. And it\u2019s particularly difficult for anyone from abroad. There are many different reasons for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
One factor\nhere is that demand is determined by supply: The\navailability of apartments is generally very limited, meaning that prices are\nenormously high, to varying degrees depending on the particular city and\nneighbourhood. And often, what they actually offer is a world away from what\nyou would expect for the price. But if you\u2019ve hit the jackpot and fallen in\nlove with a particular apartment, you might well find \u2013 again, depending on the\ncity \u2013 that there are 100 or more people applying for the same place. Not only\ndoes this make things more difficult, it makes things almost impossible \u2013\nespecially if you\u2019re a foreign citizen. In addition to this, landlords often\nhave their own ideas about who they want to rent an apartment out to: People\nwith a secure income, preferably couples and, if they have a choice, ideally\nwithout any children involved. You know, the so-called DINKS (Double Income No\nKids). As if that wasn\u2019t enough, other more subtle things are then also\nfactored in such as an applicant\u2019s particular profession, how likeable they\nare, what nationality they are, and how good their German is. This not only\nsounds like discrimination \u2013 it is discrimination. But it is difficult to prove\nin the majority of cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem\nof certain groups of people being excluded begins \u2013 of course, in people\u2019s\nheads to start with \u2013 but then as early on as reading the classified ads and\nlistings in online real estate portals: No less than 37 percent* of all readers\nstate that they are affected by this. An incredible 32 percent* confirm that\nthey probably haven\u2019t been accepted for an apartment or house in the past due\nto the fact they come from abroad and\/or do not speak German. Most cases\ninvolving discrimination are the result of private individuals who rent out just\none or a few apartments, but they also stem from employees at private housing corporations,\nreal estate agents and state-run (i.e. municipal) housing associations. It\u2019s\nworth repeating: Things are bad enough as it is for native Germans \u2013 but for\npeople without German citizenship and lacking German language skills it is nigh\non impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what can\nyou do as an employer if you want to hire staff from abroad and want to support\nthem as they look for an apartment to live in? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can, for\ninstance, help them set up a search profile on the relevant\nonline real estate portals. This will save your employee an enormous amount of\ntime, as it means they won\u2019t end up attending endless viewing appointments for\napartments that aren\u2019t suitable in any case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n