Excessive rent halved! How Kamilla now saves over 500 euros a month thanks to CONNY
32-year-old Kamilla and her flatmates in Neukölln were paying a hefty 1,070 euros for their 82 m² flat. An excessive rent they were more or less forced to accept, as they would otherwise have found themselves without a roof over their heads shortly afterwards. After a first failed attempt to reduce the rent themselves, they finally managed to cut their rent by more than half – to 514 euros – with CONNY! Kamilla tells us here how that was possible:
Kamilla, are you a native Berliner or did you move here?
I grew up in Kaarst near Neuss and have been living in Berlin-Neukölln for two years now. Several uncles and cousins were already living in Berlin. That, but of course also Berlin's art scene, was the deciding factor for moving to Berlin. I'm a miniature artist and mainly model food and little cuddly toys – and, on request, customers' pets based on photos. The pendants can then be worn as a necklace or earrings, for example.
How did you find your current flat?
At first I stayed with my uncle and then lived in a sublet in Schöneberg for two months. Eventually, an acquaintance of my uncle's gave up her flat share in Neukölln. My uncle put us in touch and I moved into the flat with two other friends.
How did the “rent negotiation” with the landlord go?
In the old flat share, the net rent for 82 m² was 712 euros. Since it wasn't clear whether we would actually be given the flat, we initially lived there on a two-month sublet. During that time we spent weeks worrying about whether we'd get the flat. Then an email arrived from the landlord saying we could have the flat – but now with a surcharge of 110 euros on top of the original net rent. After we accepted, there was no reaction for a week. Finally, another email came saying that extensive modernisation work on the building was planned, and that the rent would therefore now be 1,070 euros net, or 1,224 euros including service charges. Pressed for time, and because we had no other option left – otherwise we would have been out on the street within a few days – we reluctantly accepted the price. Incidentally, there is still no sign of this modernisation work to this day – a good two years later.
How did you feel when you signed the tenancy agreement?
It was a huge relief that it had finally worked out after all those setbacks. It was also a nice feeling to finally have a permanent home that we wouldn't have to leave again any time soon. Sure, it's a lot of rent, but at the time this flat was the only permanent place to live.
How did you then try to lower the rent?
First I went to the tenants' association, but they couldn't really help me much. I was told on which website I could find the rent index (Mietspiegel) and was given a template for a qualified objection (qualifizierte Rüge). It felt like a mountain of work that I was somehow supposed to tackle on my own without any legal knowledge. I walked out of there thinking: why am I paying for the tenants' association if I have to do everything myself anyway? I could have found the same information on Google. So I put the problem on the back burner for the time being. That was the first attempt to lower the rent, in mid-2018.
How did CONNY come into the picture?
My mum told me about CONNY because she had seen a report on TV or an advert somewhere. Then I simply instructed CONNY at the end of November last year.
Were you afraid of your landlord when you instructed CONNY?
A little, yes. You don't want a dispute with your landlord, and you want to keep a good relationship. But there was already a lot of uncertainty anyway, because we had heard that the building was going to be auctioned off and we didn't know whether we could stay here at all.
Did you expect your rent to be cut by more than half?
I didn't get my hopes up too much, even though according to the rent calculator it should have been possible to reduce the rent from 1,070 euros to 514 euros. I had indicated that we would also be happy with 700 euros. The landlord obviously didn't want that – or rather, we then got a message from CONNY saying the landlord hadn't responded and that a formal reminder had now been sent. The email saying that CONNY had managed to lower the rent arrived at the end of January, which of course made us very happy!
Did you think the fee was fair?
Given what we're now saving, it's completely fine. Basically, you forget about the money anyway, since it's paid directly by the landlord or, for the most part, taken out of the overpaid deposit.
Do you also want to enforce the Berlin rent cap (Mietendeckel)?
Yes, definitely. The landlord only has himself to blame, given that he always ignored us in the past.