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The flat comes without a kitchen
German rental adverts are full of things that need translating beyond the language. Kaltmiete is the bare rent; Warmmiete adds the Nebenkosten — heating, water, rubbish collection, building maintenance — and is what you will actually pay, so comparing a Kaltmiete with a Warmmiete makes one flat look far cheaper than it is. A deposit, the Kaution, of up to three months' cold rent is standard and legally capped there. Rooms are counted without the kitchen and bathroom, so a Drei-Zimmer-Wohnung has three real rooms plus those. And the detail that genuinely startles newcomers: unfurnished in Germany very often means without a kitchen at all. Tenants buy and install their own, take it with them when they leave, and sell it on — so flat viewings routinely include an empty room with pipes sticking out of the wall. An advert saying EBK, Einbauküche, means a fitted kitchen is included and is a real selling point. Competition in the cities is fierce enough that viewings can have thirty people at them, and landlords routinely ask for a Schufa credit report and proof of your last three payslips.