Furnished apartments in Berlin: rent, term, and permit
A furnished apartment in Berlin is still a tenancy of a home. The furniture does not by itself make the contract short, and it does not by itself remove tenant protection. The furniture share of the rent, a fixed end date, and a permit from the district office are three separate checks. Current listings are in the furnished apartments in Berlin.
This guide summarises the official rules. It does not replace a check by the district office, and it does not replace advice on one contract.
What is inside the rent
Furnished letting of a home follows ordinary tenancy law. That is the starting point of the Senate guideline on furniture surcharges. The guideline treats a flat as furnished in the legal sense only when the landlord owes the furniture and is responsible for defects in it. Single pieces, such as a fitted cupboard, usually carry no surcharge. The guideline is not binding. A court decides a dispute.
A surcharge is possible when the agreed rent clearly includes it. The guideline recommends showing the surcharge and its calculation in the contract. There is no statutory duty to use that separate line. The same guideline states that the rent brake has applied across Berlin since June 2015 under the rent-cap regulation. On request, the landlord has to name the facts that decide whether the starting rent is allowed. Those facts include the amount of the surcharge and how it was calculated. The guideline points to section 556g (3) of the Civil Code (BGB).
The Berlin method in the guideline is 2 percent a month of the value at handover, drawn from existing case law. New furniture bought for 5,000 euros gives a surcharge of 100 euros a month. If those same pieces have a useful life of ten years and are already four years old, the value is 60 percent and the surcharge is 60 euros a month. In this reckoning that figure is the ceiling, not an automatic rate for every contract. A fitted kitchen with wall and base units, a cooker, and a sink is already a value feature in the 2024 Berlin rent index, so it is not counted again in the surcharge. The local comparative rent is in Berlin rents by district.
A fixed term is a separate question
Temporary housing in Berlin, the search Wohnung auf Zeit Berlin, means a tenancy with an end date. Furnished and fixed-term are two different questions. Under section 575 BGB a fixed term is allowed only when, after the end, the landlord wants to use the home for themselves, for family, or for a member of the household, or wants to remove the rooms lawfully or alter or repair them so substantially that the continuing tenancy would make the work much harder, or wants to let the rooms to someone employed by them. The reason has to be given in writing when the contract is made. Without that notice the tenancy is treated as open-ended. A term that disadvantages the tenant is ineffective.
The rules on the starting rent in a tight market, on rent increases, and on protection when the tenancy ends do not apply to housing let only for temporary use. The same exception covers housing that is part of the home the landlord lives in, is let predominantly furnished, and is not given to the tenant for permanent use with their family or with people they keep a lasting household with. That is section 549 (2) BGB. A furnished apartment let as a home to live in does not fall under that exception merely because it has furniture.
When the district office decides as well
Repeated letting by the day or the week as a holiday flat or as guest lodging is a use other than housing. The Steglitz-Zehlendorf housing office states those cases and says a breach can be fined up to 500,000 euros: misuse of housing. The ban on misusing housing has applied across the city since 1 May 2014. Someone who lets their own Berlin main home or second home for short periods while they are away usually needs a permit. The Senate department names two cases in which a permit is regularly available. The main home remains the centre of the person's life, or a second home they use themselves is let on no more than 90 days a year. No permit is required when at most 49 percent of the floor area of the main home is let. Kitchen and bathroom each count as half. A registration number is still required as soon as the unit is offered or advertised for a short stay. Since 17 June 2026 the fourth amending act has been in force. It implements EU Regulation 2024/1028, which has applied since 20 May 2026. The number appears in the offer, and each unit has its own.
Social preservation areas add a second check. The Senate press release of 17 April 2026 brought in, from 18 April 2026, a permit requirement for fixed-term letting of housing in those areas. Fixed-term contracts under section 575 BGB, and a fixed-term sublet of a natural person's own main or second home, are in principle eligible for a permit. The districts decide. The same release puts the share of furnished temporary-housing ads among all ads at 13 percent in 2012 and 48 percent in 2025. The asking rent for that segment was €14.37/m² in 2012 and €24.12/m² in 2025, each figure the median of the all-in price.
For owners
A buyer of an apartment that already has a tenant takes over the existing contract. How price and the rent in place fit together is in buying a tenanted apartment in Berlin. A furnished let for a fixed term can need a permit in a preservation area, and letting by the day or the week can fall under the misuse ban. The return on a long-term let is what the rental yield calculator works out. It does not replace a permit, and it does not promise that a fixed-term furnished rent will stay achievable.
FAQ
Is every furnished apartment a fixed-term contract?
A fixed term needs one of the three reasons in section 575 BGB and written notice of that reason when the contract is made. Otherwise the contract runs without an end date.
Does the rent brake still apply when the flat is furnished?
The guideline describes it for housing across Berlin since June 2015, except where section 549 (2) BGB applies. The furniture surcharge has to be explained on request.
Does every furnished let need a misuse permit?
A home let for someone to live in is not yet a holiday flat. Repeated letting by the day or the week as a holiday flat or as lodging falls under the ban and needs a permit, unless a statutory exception applies.
Does this replace the application to the district?
The permit and the registration number go through the district office. Advice on the individual contract stays with a lawyer.
Next step with Sweet Home Berlin
When an apartment is on the shortlist, we set the rent, the term, and the permit question side by side before one listing makes the decision.