Find­ing an appartement

You can find here a list of res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment com­pa­nies and hous­ing coop­er­a­tives

The largest res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment com­pa­ny in Karl­sruhe is VOLKSWOHNUNG GmbH of the City of Karl­sruhe: https://www.volkswohnung.com/startseite

Tip: As in many large Ger­man cities, find­ing an apart­ment in Karl­sruhe is not always easy. Ask friends, rel­a­tives, neigh­bours and col­leagues whether they know of any avail­able apartments!

Here are some use­ful abbre­vi­a­tions you will often find in apart­ment advertisements:

  • AB Alt­bau (Old building)
  • B Bad (Bath­room)
  • BLK Balkon (Bal­cony)
  • HT Hausti­er (Pet)
  • KM Kalt­mi­ete (Basic rent)
  • Kt. Kau­tion (Deposit)
  • mbl. möbliert (Fur­nished)
  • mtl. monatlich (Month­ly)
  • NB Neubau (New building)
  • NK Nebenkosten (Util­i­ty charges)
  • NR Nich­trauch­er (Non-smok­er)
  • P/PP Park­platz (Park­ing space)
  • Whg. Woh­nung (Apart­ment)
  • WM War­m­mi­ete (Rent incl. util­i­ty charges)
  • Zi. Zim­mer (Rooms)
  • ZKB Zim­mer Küche Bad (Room + kitchen + bathroom)
  • ZKD Zim­mer Küche Dusche (Room + kitchen + shower)

Tip: What should I take with me when I go to view the prop­er­ty? A copy of your iden­ti­ty card and, if you have one, con­fir­ma­tion that you have a job (e.g. a pay slip or a copy of your employ­ment contract).

What is a deposit? Most land­lords will ask you for a deposit before you move into the rent­ed apart­ment. This is usu­al­ly 2 or 3 months’ Kalt­mi­ete (KMbasic rent), i.e. rent not includ­ing util­i­ty charges. You will get this mon­ey back when you move out – unless some­thing in the apart­ment needs to be repaired.

Tip: Don’t for­get to write your name on your mail­box and door­bell – it’s eas­i­ly over­looked in the stress of mov­ing to a new apartment.