Between Boxhagener Platz and Frankfurter Allee, strings of lights stretch across the side streets on an early May evening while café terraces slowly begin to fill up. Shortly before 4 p.m., more than a dozen prospective tenants stream into a building on Oderstraße in Friedrichshain. An apartment viewing is underway.

Inside: bright laminate flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a green courtyard, a spacious fitted kitchen, and a daylight-filled bathroom already decorated with bath mats. Most visitors express interest in the two-room apartment and say they will send in their documents — despite an unusual “brokerage fee.”

Broker: „You know how difficult it is to find an apartment”

When asked what exactly the fee is for, the broker present from a company called Biberstein Immobilien becomes visibly uneasy. He fails to provide a clear answer. Instead, he points to Berlin’s tight housing market: “You know how difficult it is to find an apartment.”

The landlord, he says, is offering the apartment “at a fairly low cost.” Whether the fee goes to him as the broker or to the landlord remains unclear — he is “just the one who has to deliver these unpleasant messages,” he says with a laugh.

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The online listing for the apartment had already included the sentence: “The apartment is rented subject to a brokerage fee and can be viewed at short notice.” Fifty-six square meters, €825 rent including utilities, with a balcony, right in Friedrichshain. For an offer like that, it is easy to overlook a side note like this.

€5000 brokerage fee: “Not permissible”

Before the viewing, however, the broker specified the amount in an email — and this time it could no longer be overlooked:

“The rental is tied to a search order specifically for this apartment. A fee of €5000 must be paid for this.”

The broker justified the fee by pointing to the supposedly high demand, with “more than 1000” interested parties.

Wibke Werner, managing director of the Berliner Mieterverein, gives a clear assessment of the practice: “Such a brokerage fee is not permissible.” To her, this clearly appears to be a broker’s commission. However, brokerage contracts for apartment rentals signed since 2015 are subject to Germany’s so-called “Bestellerprinzip” — the principle that whoever hires the broker must pay the fee.

Fraud: Is the broker charging twice?

Whoever commissions the broker has to pay. Apartment seekers who respond to an advertisement on a property portal — as in this case — cannot legally be required to pay, according to Werner.

On top of that, brokerage fees may not exceed two months’ rent, meaning the demanded €5000 would also exceed the legal limit.

Since the broker in this case was most likely hired by the landlord, the additional payment demanded from potential tenants would violate the Bestellerprinzip. This raises the suspicion that the broker may effectively be charging twice — once to the landlord for the assignment, and once again to potential tenants via the “brokerage fee.”

Direct payments in exchange for a rental contract

The Berliner Morgenpost therefore confronted the brokerage Biberstein Immobilien with the allegations and requested a statement. As of press time, the inquiry remained unanswered. The property management company Pamela Franke GmbH told the Morgenpost that it is responsible only for the common property and therefore “has nothing to do with any potential new rentals.”

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Werner from the tenants’ association says she is surprised by the case: “In our consulting practice, this issue does not come up very often.” In her assessment, illegal brokerage commission demands have decreased significantly since the introduction of the Bestellerprinzip.

“The bigger problem is likely payments for furniture or outright money demands as a condition for getting the rental contract,” Werner says about landlords. Even “voluntary” payments offered in order to secure a lease are apparently common.

The desperate apartment hunt continues

After the viewing on Oderstraße, the stairwell empties out, footsteps echo, and the street door slams shut. A few interested viewers remain standing on the sidewalk, looking through their documents and nodding to each other.

Tim* (name changed by the editors) says he has never encountered such a fee during months of apartment hunting. Nevertheless, he still plans to apply.

Another apartment seeker says she already had one experience involving a €2000 brokerage fee — but still did not get the apartment.

Most agree that it feels strange, but they would probably pay the fee anyway — no matter how high it is. All that matters is finally finding a place.

The strings of lights continue glowing in the side streets as evening falls and the first wine glasses clink outside cafés. And the apartment hunt in Berlin goes on.

This article was originally written and published on the 17th of May in German. It was translated in English with the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Note: In a previous version of the article, the property management company Pamela Franke GmbH had not yet responded.