Looking for accommodation on the free market in and around Munich

Warning! Do not transfer any security deposit for accommodation before you’ve underwritten a contract or already have seen the place. Especially do not transfer money for security deposit in a foreign country, there are some peculators making money with it. If you are not sure whether it’s secure or not to transfer money, please contact the international office.

The following pages are designed for international PhD students, postdocs and professors. If you are an international student all relevant information concerning room/flat-hunting can be found here.

Worth knowing in advance

Before you embark on actually searching for somewhere to live in or around Munich, you should be aware of the following facts:

Choice of flats and rooms - unfurnished vs. furnished

Since rented accommodation in Germany usually comes minus the furniture, about 80% of the flats that are available to let in Munich are accordingly unfurnished and only about 20% are furnished.

The average monthly rent for an unfurnished flat, which may contain kitchen fittings, however, is 100 to 200 EUR less than for furnished accommodation. So if you already have some furniture or if you are planning to stay in Munich for a fairly long time, renting an unfurnished flat is always the more economical option.

As a general rule, furnished flats tend to be on a small scale with just 1 or 2 rooms, whereas larger flats are rarely available complete with furniture. If you are planning to bring your family to Munich and require a furnished flat or apartment, only a small fraction of the accommodation available on the free market is suitable for your needs. For this reason, it is a good idea to start looking for a place to live in Munich as soon as possible, especially since various matters connected with the children's schooling frequently go hand in hand with determining the precise residential area, or the choice of accommodation may have to be narrowed down to certain districts/suburbs of Munich because of the children's education needs.

As an alternative to renting an entire flat, a single person can also rent an unfurnished or furnished room in a shared apartment (multiple occupation). You will have your own room but will share the bathroom and the kitchen with all the other occupants in the apartment. These rooms are usually cheaper than a furnished one-room flat and have the advantage of offering you the companionship of the other tenants from the start until you are properly settled into your new surroundings.

Number of tenants

Munich's landlords/landladies generally tolerate only an appropriate number of tenants in their property. As a rule of thumb:

• not more than one person should live in a 1-room flat,
  
• not more than 2 people in a 2-room flat and
  
• not more than 4 people in a 3-room flat.

Hosting friends or family members during your stay in Munich

If friends or family want to visit you during your stay in Munich, it is your responsibility to provide them with suitable accommodations. Under Temporary and short term accommodation you can find a list of available housing. If you have additional questions concerning hosting friends or family please contact accommodation@zv.tum.de.

Rental period and seasonal fluctuations

Most landlords/landladies are interested in long-term rentals, i.e. the shorter your proposed stay in Munich, the harder it will probably be for you to find suitable accommodation on the free market.

To aggravate the matter, there are certain times of the year when it is particularly difficult to find accommodation owing to the large number of new arrivals and guests, who are all looking for somewhere to stay. This generally applies to the months May to July and September/October. In particular, it is almost impossible to find a place to stay during Oktoberfest, which is held at the end of September. So if you are able to plan your research term fairly flexibly, it is advisable to arrange dates in such a way as to avoid commencing your stay during the said periods or to start looking for accommodation well in advance.

Rental rates

The average rent for flats is considerably higher than in other German cities and regions and Munich can easily compete with price levels in force in other European or international metropoles such as Milan, Paris or Zurich, for example. Similar rates also apply in the environs of Munich, that is to say, the prices practised in Garching or Freising are more or less the same as in Munich itself. Rates only begin to get cheaper on the outskirts or well outside the boundaries of the area covered by local public transport services. Monthly rental rates in and around Munich are in the region of:

• 500 - 750 EUR for a furnished, 1-room flat,
  
• 800 - 1000 EUR for a furnished, 2-room flat,
• 950 - 1250 EUR for a furnished, 3-room flat
  
• approximately 1400 EUR for a furnished 4-room flat

utility and service charges inclusive. The exact costs depend on the area of floor space measured in square metres, the location in the city, proximity of public transport services, particularly underground and suburban railway routes (U- and S-Bahn), as well as the state of the flat or the type of furniture provided.

Now it's up to you

Now you are familiar with a few of the most important basic facts about flat-hunting in and around Munich, it's time for you to become active. The following section contains a few additional details:

• websites and newspapers that advertise accommodation offers on the free market
• a list of abbreviations commonly used in advertisements for accommodation including explanations and an English translation

• information on utility and service charges and other extras connected with accommodation

• a selection of temporary and short-term accommodation opportunities (rentals of max. 2 months)

• information on TUM guesthouses

Our offer of assistance

Since it could be very difficult to find accommodation from overseas, especially if you only have a basic knowledge of German, we would like to help you in your search. If you complete our online accommodation enquiry form, we will be pleased to send you an offer for furnished accommodation.

 

contact: accommodation@zv.tum.de