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7 reasons buying furniture in Germany is a nightmare

You’ve negotiated your new job contract. You’ve signed your lease. The keys jangle in your hands. What’s not to be excited about?

Published: 12 June 2017 09:33 CEST

7 reasons buying furniture in Germany is a nightmare

Photo: Pixabay

Well, your apartment is most likely empty. And we mean empty – as in you’re lucky if you actually have light bulbs dangling from the ceiling and not just wires hanging out.

Furnished rentals are in short supply in Germany, so being an expat here involves buying furniture and, would you believe it, even a kitchen. That’s right – your flat likely has no kitchen: no oven, stove, refrigerator or cabinets. Just fixtures and bare walls.

Sure, expats in Germany are starting to look at other options like furniture rental or leasing – because buying furniture in Germany can be a nightmare.

So to help save you from unexpected grief, we’ve put together a list things to expect when buying furniture in Germany – or, as we like to call it: The “Notorious 7”.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

1. The wait

Photo: hunor83/Depositphotos

Think you’ll have your furniture immediately? Think again. It’s pretty much impossible to buy furniture to take home then and there. Usually, the furniture is made after you’ve placed your order – that’s right: supply on demand. And depending on the individual pieces, this might take a while. So expect up to four months even for a simple couch.

2. Hell's kitchen

Photo: darkday/Flickr

The worst part about German rentals, hands down, is the kitchen. It’s even hard to distinguish from the other rooms since it’ll have almost nothing in it (aside from a double row of tiles – the ‘backsplash’)! So you have to buy an expensive kitchen. Again, standard delivery time is around 8 to 10 weeks, and that doesn’t include the two weeks you have to wait for your kitchen to be measured. And the hassle doesn’t end there…

3. Points of no return

Photo: Gajus-Images/Depositphotos

Beware of the fine print, folks! As soon as you sign off on the measurements, you signed the binding purchase contract, so if the kitchen doesn’t fit – too bad, you’re paying for it.

Also, should you need to, you probably won’t be able to cancel your order; cancelling is occasionally possible but expect a hefty fee.

4. Nightmare delivery dates

Photo: franckito/Depositphotos

Germans are notorious for being punctual, right? Well when it comes to delivery, wrong! Be prepared to be frustrated because deliveries generally come at the tail end of long time windows (‘Zeitfenster’) – if they are on time at all. Nobody can afford to sit around all day (and there are no doormen in Germany), but if you’re not home, your furniture will be left in front of the building. If you are at home, your furniture won’t even be delivered to your desired room. Even worse, after that horrendous wait, you’ve still got the laborious task of setting up the furniture.

5. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Photo: SIPhotography/Depositphotos

You’d better! You are in Germany after all and you can’t expect everybody to speak English. Just ask the guy we know who tried to buy a black leather sofa when he moved to Germany (from the US). Ten weeks later (!) a red sofa showed up on his doorstep. Yep, no kidding! After confirming the purchase order, he realised he’d ordered the wrong colour… and he’s still not sure how it all got lost in translation (note to self: schwarz = black, rot = red).

6. German beds not made for Kings

Photo: tan4ikk/Depositphotos

Good luck finding the right bed size. For instance, a “king size” in Germany is only a queen in most other countries. So brush up on your metrics and beware that cabinets, tables, and even the refrigerator and cars are, generally speaking, smaller in Germany compared to how things are in, say, North America.

7. Forget Low Budget

Photo: ivonnewierink/Depositphotos

Saving the worst for last: Buying furniture in Germany is expensive; if you scrimp in cost you scrimp in quality. Plus you’ve got all those issues with delivery.

So why not rent furniture instead? And have it delivered within 48 hours…

Rental vs. the “Notorious 7”?

The fact of the matter is that expat lifestyle is often unpredictable – you may not plan on staying in Germany forever so you need a flexible and hassle-free arrangement.

Considering the “Notorious 7”, you can see why furniture rental has become increasingly popular among expats in Germany.

Furniture Leasing Corporation (FLC) allow you to choose rental packages for as short as four weeks or as long as five years. They also offer an extensive online catalogue with options to fit every taste and room. You can even rent electronics and appliances like televisions, washing machines and refrigerators, and yes, kitchens, too.

Best of all, FLC can deliver everything, for free, within 48 hours – no matter where you live in Germany. All you have to do is surf, shop, and relax on your new couch!

There are of course challenges to expat life, don’t make furniture one of them!

Find out more by visiting Furniture Leasing Corporation

This article was produced by The Local Client Studio and sponsored by Furniture Leasing Corporation.

10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

When it comes to settling in Germany, one of the most stressful and difficult tasks you’re likely to face is finding a place to live.

With the country in the grip of an ever-worsening housing shortage, there aren’t enough rental properties to meet the high demand – especially in big cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt – and the flats that are available can often stretch even the most healthy of budgets.

With renters desperate to find affordable homes, crafty scammers have seized the chance to place fake ads on the market, often in dream locations with lower-than-average rents.

While some of these scams may be easy to spot, others can be highly sophisticated, with fraudsters setting up professional-looking websites and even allowing hopeful tenants to view their properties in person.

Recently The Local reported on a Polish couple who lost around €7,000 through a rental scam in Berlin. The scammers had sublet a beautiful Altbau apartment in the popular district of Neukölln and created an advert for it via a fake letting agent website, then arranged for people to use a key box to view the property while the real tenants were away.

Despite checking the contract over with legal experts from their local tenants’ association, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary – that is, until they tried to access the apartment and found a family already living there.

So, how do you protect your hard-earned savings and steer clear of scammers while looking for a new home?

Here are 10 important ways to protect yourself from rental scams.

1. Be alert to suspicious signs

The key to avoiding scammers in Germany is to be fully clued up on the warning signs. Was the listing for the property uploaded in the middle of the night, is the advert thin on details or written in bad German or English, and does the offer feel too good to be true?

Though it would be nice to believe there are still cheap flats to be found, finding an attractive property at an overly reasonable price is usually a red flag.

Hamburg

Modern apartments in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

If someone claiming to be a landlord contacts you out of the blue, that’s also your cue to run a mile. With so many people looking for housing, most letting agents and landlords will have more than people looking to rent their properties without needing to get in touch with people themselves. Anyone who does is more than likely to be a scammer.

2. Rule out landlords who say they live abroad

One of the major warning signs to look out for is a landlord who claims to be renting the property from abroad, or who says they are out of the country for other reasons, like a last-minute business trip.

That’s usually a scammer’s way of excusing the fact that they won’t be able to meet you personally or even show you the property before you rent it.

“When the country the landlord lives in appears then I would say there’s a really big chance this is a scam,” said Kuba Rudzinski, one of the victims of the Berlin-Neukölln rental fraud.

Even if the excuse seems plausible, your best bet is to ignore anyone who tries to sell you a story about living abroad and simply move on with your house hunt.

3. Do your research online

Before committing to anything, take time to do some thorough research to scope out the property, landlord and letting agent.

Running the pictures and text used in apartment listings through a search engine like Google will help you quickly identify stock photos and text stolen from other listings. For pictures, this is known as a reverse image search.

A laptop

Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash

It’s also worth checking that any websites you’re sent to are fully functional and not copies of other letting agent sites, and that any email addresses match the website domain.

4. Visit the property and ask around

Never agree to rent a property without seeing it in person first. Arrange a viewing and take the opportunity to ask questions about the property and the neighbourhood.

Kuba also recommends speaking with the neighbours in the building to check if the property is genuinely being rented.

“Go to the place before and ask the neighbours, is this flat really for rent? Because these people generally know,” he said. “You’ll need to convince yourself to do it of course, but just ask in the building, ask on the floor where the flat is.”

5. Don’t transfer the full deposit in advance

Advance payments for anything, whether it’s furniture, a deposit or getting a chance to view the property, should be considered a major red flag.

Under German law, you are usually only expected to pay the deposit by the start of the agreed rental contract – and certainly not several months in advance.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andrea Warnecke

You are also legally entitled to pay your three months’ deposit in three instalments on top of your first three months’ rent after moving in, so definitely be cautious of landlords that place pressure on you to transfer a large lump sum.

If you’re really concerned, look into alternatives for paying your deposit, such as Kautionversicherung (deposit insurance) or a Mietkautionssparbuch, where you open a bank account and pledge the amount to the landlord, rather than transferring the money directly.

6. Insist on meeting the landlord or letting agent in person

If a landlord or letting agent refuses to meet you in person or insists on conducting all communication online, they’re probably not who they say they are.

Insist on meeting face-to-face to verify their identity and ensure they have a legitimate connection to the property.

7. Avoid sending documents straight away

Not all rental scams are about getting money from you directly: many scammers are simply after your personal details for the purposes of identity theft.

Be wary of providing personal documents or sensitive information before you’ve verified the legitimacy of the rental agreement, especially when it comes to things like passport scans or other forms of ID.

8. Seek legal advice from experts

If you’re unsure about any aspect of the rental agreement or if something seems suspicious, seek advice from legal experts or tenants’ associations.

However, be aware that this isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee that a tenancy is legitmate. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, even down to producing water-tight rental contracts for would-be tenants.

An estate agent hands over keys to an apartment. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

According to civil lawyer Emilia Tintelnot, becoming a member of a tenants’ association can be a good way to get affordable legal advice, and it can also be helpful to set up legal insurance to ensure you can access help when you need it without having to pay lawyers’ fees up front.

9. Be wary of stereotypes

Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes or preconceived notions about someone’s gender or nationality, as this may cause you to overlook things you might otherwise see as warning signs.

In Kuba’s case, the fact that the fraudsters were German made them appear more legitimate in his eyes, as Polish people tend to see Germans as law-abiding and trustworthy.

Be aware that scammers can come from any cultural background and may use a variety of tactics to deceive unsuspecting renters.

10. Keep an extensive paper trail

Document all communication, agreements, and transactions related to the rental process, including phone numbers and any bank details provided.

According to the Berlin police, this type of evidence can be crucial for an investigation if you do suspect a scammer.

While evidence can differ across cases, “pictures, contact details used by the perpetrators, original documents, bank details with payment receipts” are particularly helpful for investigators, and could help the police stop the scammers for good.

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