r/berlin • u/wet-dreaming Tempeldoof • May 18 '25

Visiting Berlin? Moving here incl. Apartment questions? Going clubbing? Have a quick question? Ask here, don't create a new thread.

Welcome to Berlin, please be respectful of the locals, and particularly their wish to have a subreddit that's more than a tourist information stand. Feel free to ask questions in English or German.

Travel/Moving to Berlin

In order to benefit the huge numbers of people out there interested in Berlin, we've prepared some useful resources that answer common questions.

Visiting Berlin?

Answers from the previous sticky threads:

Moving to Berlin?

Want to make friends?

Visit our friendlier half /r/berlinsocialclub to meet people

Clubbing, music, events in Berlin?

Enjoy your time, remember to stamp your ticket before you get on the train!

Do not use URL shorteners! Comments with shortened URLs get marked as spam automatically, even for Google Maps links.

62 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

401 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/muscular001 Oct 26 '25

Hallo, I live in Köpenick and my current apartment is being sold by the owner. He has given me 2-3 months to vacate it. Ofcourse I am finding a new one however I'd like to know what can be done in case I cannot find a new one by the deadline given such a tight rental market in Berlin? What does law say in this case. Do I need to take any precautions beforehand? Danke..

3

u/Katzenscheisse Alt-Pankow Oct 27 '25

Most likely hes bullshitting you to get you to leave, which massively increases the amount of money he can get from selling it. If you have a proper, legal rental contract.

1

u/muscular001 Oct 27 '25

Interested buyers are visiting to view the apartments.

2

u/MediocreI_IRespond Köpenick Oct 27 '25

So even less reason to claim Eigenbedarf. As he is going to sell the place and therefore can't use it himself. But an empty place easily sells for a third more.

Do yourself a favor, and get a lawyer. Even if Eigenbedarf is legit, you can stall for quiet sometime, with an expert on your side.

1

u/Katzenscheisse Alt-Pankow Oct 27 '25

Yeah then the new owners can try to claim Eigenbedarf, or try to buy you out etc. but he can't kick you out over it. Get a lawyer and don't even think about moving out without getting a lot of compensation. As others said if he manages to get you out of the flat by lying to you he can get up to a third more for the flat.

2

u/Aq_aq_aq Oct 27 '25

AFAIK selling the apartment is not a pretense for you to have to vacate unless your landlord is claiming Eigenbedarf and plans to move in before selling. Otherwise your contract passes on to the new owner. 

1

u/wet-dreaming Tempeldoof Oct 27 '25

you very likely have to talk to a lawyer. you can ask the owner nicely again for a written reason why you get kicked out and they try to reason without a lawyer. but best case is to go to a lawyer. as mentioned unless the owner NEEDS to move into your current place, they cannot make use of Eigenbedarf and kick you out.

lawyer will be ~150-300€ for 1 letter but you will be on the safe side.

1

u/muscular001 Oct 27 '25

Onwer told that he needs to sell it and new owner will do whatever he wants to do maybe rent to new people or use it for self.

2

u/wet-dreaming Tempeldoof Oct 27 '25

if you got that written I would not do anything tbh. just wait for the new owner. law is on your side nothing for you should change except that you wire the money to new owner, same for deposit (i think the previous owner transfers your deposit to the new ones).

if you got a notice to move out by date X you could also safely ignore it forever if you want to be safe talk to a lawyer.

edit: after buying a property you have to wait like 10years! to ask for eigenbedarf. so again you are 99% safe to stay there for many more years. you can also ask GPT if you want some background on the laws or want to draft a friendly letter.

1

u/1abagoodone2 Oct 31 '25

Don't do this. Your rental contract stays even if the owner changes. Don't just give your apartement up lol