WG & rental scam red flags in Germany
If a landlord asks for money before you’ve seen the apartment in person or on a live video call, treat it as a scam until proven otherwise — real German landlords do not do this. International first-semester students are targeted specifically because housing shortages and time pressure push people to skip the checks below.
The red flags
You're asked to pay before viewing the apartment
In person or on a live video call where you can see the actual rooms, not a set of listing photos. A landlord or 'agent' who is conveniently always abroad, always busy, or insists on sending keys by post after you pay is the single most common pattern in German rental-fraud reports.
Payment is requested via wire transfer, Western Union, or gift cards before any contract exists
A real German landlord signs a Mietvertrag (lease) with you before taking a deposit. Any request to send money — deposit, 'reservation fee', or first month's rent — before a contract exists and before you've verified the person is the real landlord is a red flag on its own.
The price is well below other listings in that city and district
Scammers price a fake listing low specifically to generate urgency and a flood of applicants. Compare the asking price against FirstWeek's own city-level averages — if a WG room is priced far under the city's typical range, that gap is itself worth treating as suspicious rather than lucky.
The listing photos and description are generic, or reappear elsewhere
Real listings usually have distinctive photos and details specific to that apartment. A reverse image search on the main listing photo is a five-minute check — photos lifted from a hotel site, an Airbnb, or a different listing entirely are a common tell.
The 'landlord' asks for a deposit larger than 3x cold rent, or an agency fee you shouldn't owe
Both are illegal in most cases, not just unusual — see the two rules below. A listing that violates either one either doesn't understand German rental law, or is counting on you not knowing it.
The two rules the law actually sets
A listing that violates either one is a red flag on its own — cited to the statute text directly (see hidden costs of moving to Germany for the full breakdown of both).
What is the maximum rental deposit (Kaution) a landlord can ask for in Germany?
Three times the cold monthly rent (Kaltmiete) — the base rent excluding utility cost pass-throughs. § 551 BGB sets this as a hard ceiling for residential leases; a clause demanding more is unenforceable for the excess. Landlords are also required to keep the deposit in an account separate from their own assets, earning interest for the tenant (unless you've agreed otherwise in writing), and you're legally allowed to pay it in three equal monthly instalments starting from the beginning of the tenancy.
§ 551 BGB — Begrenzung der MietsicherheitDo I have to pay the estate agent's commission (Maklerprovision) when renting in Germany?
No — not if the landlord hired the agent, which is the normal case. Since 1 June 2015, the Bestellerprinzip (§ 2 Abs. 1a WoVermRG) makes whoever commissioned the broker responsible for their fee: usually the landlord, since they're the one who asked the agent to find a tenant. An agent may only charge you, the renter, if you specifically and separately hired them to find you a place. A landlord or agent asking you to pay a 'finder's fee' as a condition of the lease itself is very likely acting outside the law.
§ 2 WoVermRG — BestellerprinzipRelated
- cost of living in Germany by city — check a listing’s price against the going rate for that city before you get excited about a bargain.
- hidden costs of moving to Germany — the deposit cap and agency-fee rule in full, plus the recurring costs no listing shows.
- understanding SCHUFA — a real landlord may ask for a credit report; a scammer asking for SCHUFA data plus money upfront is doubly suspicious.
See sources & data policy for how the legal facts above are verified.