In the end the law is on your side!
Timothy's rent was too high and he was not familiar with the German legal system. Therefore, he did not know how to change anything about the excessive rent. But with CONNY's help he was able to save a fifth of his rent.
Which problem did you ask CONNY to solve?
We ask CONNY to help us with high rent.
How did you find your apartment?
It took us a while to find our apartment and we use an expat service because it's really difficult to find one as a newcomer to Berlin on your own. We moved into the apartment in October in twenty nineteen.
What kind of apartment is this?
It's approximately 60 square meters, two rooms. At the time the cold rent was seven hundred and fifty euros per month warm was nine hundred euros per month.
What do you like most about your apartment? Do you plan to stay in the apartment for the long term?
We love that our apartment is an Altbau. It has lots of character, high ceilings, lots of light, and we also love the area. So, we are in a super busy part of Friedrichshain and lots of cafes and restaurants and shops and markets. And we love the area. We love the character of the place. We would like to stay in the apartment for the duration of the lease. So, it is four years, which is, I guess, quite long term for us. And then we will see.
Did you know your rent was too high when you moved in?
We did not think that the rent was too high when we first moved in. We knew it was high, but we did not know it was high compared to what we should be paying. A lot of our friends and colleagues told us that the Berlin prices had gone up and it was pretty normal.
How did you find out about CONNY?
A friend of a friend had used CONNY before. We were just talking one night, and they said that they had use the service to help them lower their rent because it was too high. They said that, you know, it worked and that it was kind of then that we realized that we were paying too much.
How did you get in touch with CONNY?
I just looked up CONNY on the Internet, found the website. We filled in the form online and started the process from there. It was pretty easy, pretty quick.
Did you have any concerns before or during the assignment? What eased your worries?
Peta: I particularly was a little bit worried about confronting our landlord, about our rent. I was worried that it might have a negative impact on our relationship. But after reading testimonials online, Tim also spoke to someone at CONNY and Tim also convinced me.
Timothy: It was a period of probably about two months where we did not hear anything, which we were told would happen. But we did get a little bit nervous, so, I just called, and I talked to a real person immediately. They updated me straight away about where our case was at and what was happening. Turned out our landlord was being slow to respond, which is also quite normal. I think that is all it took. And just, yeah, that is all I knew to be like, oh, everything is fine.
Peta: And I guess at the end of the process, now that we still have a fine relationship with our landlord, that eventually made me feel like it was OK.
How did the process go for you? How long did the process take from commissioning to agreement?
When I first heard about it, I thought it would just be really complicated and difficult. But I didn't have to do anything, really. When there was some questions, I answered some questions, but they were all easy questions. But it was pretty easy, just all worked. The whole process took about six months. And I think the only reason was it was because our landlord or our landlord representatives were slow to react.
Did your case go to court or were you able to settle with your landlord out of court?
We were able to settle with our own out of court through CONNY. I know we could have asked for more of a discount and maybe then have gone to court, but we decided that this was the easier option.
How much rent can you save now? How does that make you feel?
So, we're now saving about two hundred euro per month in rent and that makes us feel pretty great. Yeah, we're very happy.
Does the rent reduction match your expectations? Did you expect more or less?
In terms of what we were expecting. We didn't really have too many expectations because we didn't think this was possible. We don't know. We could have probably got more. But yeah, we're very happy.
Do you already have plans on what you're going to do with the rent you save?
With the money that we're saving, we are hoping to actually save up enough for a place of our own, either here or back in Australia. So, it's nice to know that the extra money is going towards something that we both want.
Has the relationship with your landlord changed?
Because our landlord is a large company and is the only contact we have is through representatives. This process didn't negatively affect our relationship with our landlord. It seems like business as usual.
Have you also been affected by the Mietendeckel? Did you put the difference aside to be able to pay a possible back payment?
Peta: We were affected by the Mietendeckel. Our rent was lowered further through that. Obviously, we have to pay it back, which isn't a huge issue because we did have the money put away just in case.
Timothy: Again, our landlord was not so communicative and did not send the correct correspondence to us directly. So, we had to engage with CONNY again. Now that it's been reversed, we will lose that money that it costs to get that done. However, it was nice to know that we had someone who we'd had good experience with. As soon as I stepped in, it was fixed.
Do you think the success commission is fair?
I think the money that we paid for this success fee or the money that CONNY got for the success fee is fair considering the savings that we're now able to make.
What is your conclusion? What would you advise other people in a similar situation?
I would definitely advise other people in a similar situation to us to use CONNY. When I think about the money that we're now saving, I would say the time that we spent waiting for CONNY to help us was definitely worth it. You know, it's fair, it's legal, and I don't think it has affected us in any negative way. So, we are definitely recommending CONNY to our friends now.