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Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) I've heard Berlin is very expensive. I gues

by dfxm12 3y ago

Also, 7714 Euros is expensive (it's more than I pay for a year's rent in a small appartment in Berlin for instance) I've heard Berlin is very expensive. I guess it's overblown like some other places I've lived that have a reputation for being "very expensive": if you're really looking, you can find affordable options, but the reporting data is being mostly skewed by outrageously expensive outliers.

obmelvin 3y ago
Berlin is a very odd city for renting. There are so many protections for renters. I have a friend who's parents bought a place there while she was doing her PhD. She got a roommate who was starting a PhD at the same time. This friend has since done a PostDoc in the US and worked nearly 5 years here (read: the original rate was set a while ago). Meanwhile, her old-roommate refuses to move out, pay more in rent or pay for utilities. Through a combination of ignoring messages (knowing that no one is in the country) and citing every renter protection one can, this person continues to pay only ~500 euro/month for rent + all utilities. It doesn't help that her parents live in a different EU country and need to use Russian-German lawyers, who seem to be fine taking money even if they can't do much. I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit.
- dfxm12 3y ago
  I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit. Can you elaborate on why you imagine this?
  - obmelvin 3y ago
    I just mean that strict controls over the ability to raise prices & not letting the landlord terminate the lease after a 12-month cycle has ended would likely effect the calculations done by landlords. A landlord may want a high price to 1) bake in future raises, if they can't be done year to year and 2) a filter to only rent to people with high paying jobs in an attempt to avoid situations where someone doesn't leave because they'll never find something as cheap. To be clear, this is my inductive reasoning after asking this friend many questions in disbelief at her situation. I can't say definitively that this is a cause of higher rents. Nor do I mean to imply that there aren't bigger effects.

by dfxm12 3y ago

obmelvin 3y ago

Berlin is a very odd city for renting. There are so many protections for renters. I have a friend who's parents bought a place there while she was doing her PhD. She got a roommate who was starting a PhD at the same time. This friend has since done a PostDoc in the US and worked nearly 5 years here (read: the original rate was set a while ago). Meanwhile, her old-roommate refuses to move out, pay more in rent or pay for utilities. Through a combination of ignoring messages (knowing that no one is in the country) and citing every renter protection one can, this person continues to pay only ~500 euro/month for rent + all utilities. It doesn't help that her parents live in a different EU country and need to use Russian-German lawyers, who seem to be fine taking money even if they can't do much. I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit.

dfxm12 3y ago
I imagine that cases like this have driven up the rent prices quite a bit. Can you elaborate on why you imagine this?
- obmelvin 3y ago
  I just mean that strict controls over the ability to raise prices & not letting the landlord terminate the lease after a 12-month cycle has ended would likely effect the calculations done by landlords. A landlord may want a high price to 1) bake in future raises, if they can't be done year to year and 2) a filter to only rent to people with high paying jobs in an attempt to avoid situations where someone doesn't leave because they'll never find something as cheap. To be clear, this is my inductive reasoning after asking this friend many questions in disbelief at her situation. I can't say definitively that this is a cause of higher rents. Nor do I mean to imply that there aren't bigger effects.