NigelS

I have a job offer to work in Hamburg. Im looking to rent an unfurnished modern 3 bed house in the suburbs which is easily commutable into Hamburg. Can anyone recommend an agent who can help me? Also what is the situation regarding schools. I have a 7 year old son. None of us can speak German. All advice is welcome

Moses2013

Most properties are advertised through agent or private but I would just look on the usual websites and contact them. I'm sure plenty of estate agents speak English if they want to sell https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suc...Reporting=true. Otherwise just use basic German and say you are sorry that your German isn't that great (Google translate). Bitte entschuldigen Sie mein schlechtes Deutsch etc. Regarding schools your child is young enough to go to a normal Grundschule and start from 1st class.

NigelS

Thanks Moses
I appreciate you taking time to respond.

scrubbedexpat0105

Moses has already helpfully pointed you to immobilienscout24.de, which is the German equivalent of Rightmove in the UK. Use Google Translate to help you navigate the site, but if you contact agents, just write in English – don't use Google Translate for that, garbled German just causes more trouble than it's worth.

Pressure on property is very strong in Hamburg (and most other major cities) at the moment. It isn't merely a question of finding somewhere, but also of being the tenant selected from what might well be a very long list of candidates. Your chances are much higher if you're actually there, so consider renting a hotel room whilst you look, or be ready to fly over at very short notice.

German property is usually advertised first and foremost according to the area in square metres, and then according to the total number of rooms (not just bedrooms). "Rooms" (Zimmer) in this context excludes kitchens and bathrooms. "Unfurnished" usually also means no kitchen furniture or appliances.

You can in theory pay an estate agent to find somewhere for you. Until recently, this was on paper the standard practice, but in reality, wherever demand exceeded supply the practice was for the prospective tenant to contact the agent advertising the property, who then charged a fee for "finding" it. Given that estate agents collected the finding fee anyway, they weren't falling over themselves to do any hunting in order to earn it; I once asked an estate agent in Cologne if he would do this for me and was given a very brusque "No". (They also collect the same fee from the landlord incidentally.)

Last year, estate agents were banned from charging tenants finders' fees for properties already on their books, so conceivably an estate agent might now actually be willing to earn a fee for hunting on your behalf. Conceivably... If they are, expect the agent's fee to be two months' "cold" rent (rent without service costs and heating) plus VAT (19%).

It would help hugely if your new employer were to help you look, for example placing an advert on your behalf and fielding offers.

Schools: what Moses said. You'll be amazed how quickly your son learns German.

Moses2013

Yep and apart from all the paperwork etc. most kids will speak German in no time at that age. I can imagine that Hamburgs property market is tough and even when we were renting in smaller villages/towns years ago it wasn't always easy. SCHUFA-Auskunft and all that can be hard for people new to the country but I'm sure a city like Hamburg has options.




As you said, if looking for 3 bed it will be 4 Zimmer and if looking for 4 bed it will be 5 Zimmer and so on.

GermanytoCanada

Some good advice above and I would reiterate the point about pushing the future employer to provide assistance with the search. It would also be useful for someone to recommend some houses to you considering the (real) commute to the company location, the desirability of a specific area etc - information that you can't get from the internet or google maps.

I would definitely also recommend just using English rather than translated German. Generally if you ask someone if they speak English and they say no, over 50% of the time they speak more than enough English to be able to converse with you but don't have the confidence to respond. Once you start talking to them it can be amazing how proficient somebody who 'doesn't speak English' can be.

When looking at houses on immobilienscout24 as recommended above, look out for the rental price and the 'nebenkosten'. The nebenkosten will cover a variety of bills (often council tax, water, sometimes heating if it is an apartment) and you pay this on top of the rent.

Can't comment on schools as our daughter is too young for that yet.

Best of luck - Hamburg is a great city.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Milkysym

Hi,
I hope this is not to late for your move but I saw the post and thought I would jump in (or at least help future movers). I moved to Hamburg 10 months ago and had similar questions. I suggest you get in touch with the Schulinformationszentrum (SIZ Schulinformationszentrum der Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung - Stadt Hamburg) If you have not done so already. They put my 9 year old daughter in to an integration class not far from our flat. The class is specifically for new arrivals to Germany and focuses about 50% on German language and 50% curriculum. I can say it definitely works as to my shame my daughter does now speak better German than me :-). Be warned you have to wait about a month for an appointment and you need to be there in Person (helps if you have a your address and registration papers).

I also highly recommend making an appointment with the Hamburg Welcome Centre (Hamburg Welcome Center - hamburg.com). They are there to offer administration services and general assistance to new arrivals. We went to see them with a few questions we could not find answers for and they sorted us out and gave us A LOT of information.

Hope your move to Hamburg goes well and if you do have any other questions do ask.