Rent Service

Citizens with a low income can receive an allowance towards their housing costs from the government: Housing Benefit.
People who live in rented or subtenanted accommodation receive Housing Benefit as a rent allowance, people who own their own house or flat receive a service charge allowance.

First of all, you should check whether you are entitled to Housing Benefit at all. You can do this very easily with our Housing Benefit calculator:

Whether you can get Housing Benefit and how much it would be essentially depends on:

• how high your income is,
• how high your rent is (for tenants) or your service charges (for home owners) and
• how many other people live in your household and how high their income is.

You must also meet other requirements in order to be able to apply for Housing Benefit in Berlin:

• You must have your main residence in Berlin.
• You do not receive any social benefits that take into account the costs of accommodation. Such benefits are, for example citizen’s income/unemployment benefit Ii/social security benefit, guaranteed minimum pension and social security for reduced earning capacity, subsistence allowance or children and youth welfare allowance.
• You are not entitled to BAföG, BAB or benefits under the MobiPro-EU programme.

You do not get Housing Benefit automatically. You must submit an application for it to the Citizens’ Registration Office (“Bürgeramt”) of the district in which you live.

You can submit the Housing Benefit application form for tenants (Rent Allowance) directly online at:

The Housing Benefit application form for home owners (Service Charge Allowance) can be found here:

You can also download, fill out and print out the application forms and necessary attachments. You will find them at:

At the district Bürgeramt you will also receive the Housing Benefit application forms and necessary attachments in paper form.

Please fill out the complete application and enclose all the required attachments/documentary proofs. Only then can the Housing Benefit authorities process it quickly.

What documents do I need?

Which documentary proofs you need very much depends on your personal situation.
In particular, you need the following documentary proofs (only copies):

• ID documents of all persons who live in your home.
• Proof of your right of residence; if you are a citizen of a country in the European Union (EU), in general a copy of your ID document is sufficient for this. If you are a citizen of a non-European country (third countries), you need proof of your legal status, e.g. a residence permit or a residence title for specific purposes.
• Proofs of social security benefits of all persons who live in your home, e.g.
  • Notification of unemployment benefit or citizen’s income/unemployment benefit II
  • Notification of basic security benefits with calculation sheets for income support
  • Notification of advance maintenance payments from the Child Welfare Office (Jugendamt).
• Proofs of income for all members of the household, e.g. payslips, notice of pension granted.
• Proofs of income-related expenses, severe disability and degree of care, periods that count towards basic pension.
• For tenants: Tenancy agreement and additional agreements or letters from the landlord notifying of changes, if any exist.
• Proof of your rent payments for the past three months, for example, in the form of receipts or account statements.
• For owners: Proof of ownership, e.g. deed of purchase, excerpt from the land register
• current utility cost bill (if available)
• Proof of your service charge payments, e.g. loan agreements, certificates of borrowed funds, property tax notification.

Other documentary proofs may also be necessary. A complete overview can be found on the ServicePortal of Land Berlin at:

Submitting an application is never easy. If you have any questions or do not understand anything, please do not hesitate to contact the free tenant advice services provided by the Berlin districts. The people there will be pleased to help you.