FAQ Accommodation

You find this for e.g. in our letters on the letterhead "Identnummer" or in the reservation confirmation.

Students of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Folkwang University of the Arts and Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences can apply for a room.

External students can also apply for a place in student accommodation. However, these applications are not given priority.

Of course! We offer short-term contracts for program students and guests. You must rent your room for at least one month.

If you stay in our dormitory for less than six months, it is a short-term lease. In that case, a monthly surcharge will apply. You will have to pay a monthly fee. The amount of this fee depends on the rental period:

Reasons for such an additional fee are, among others, the high administrative costs and a certain vacancy rate that arises with short term contracts.

For exchange students who live with us for a maximum of five months, there is a fee for short-term rentals in addition to the guest fee.

Example: You spend a semester abroad in Essen and live in one of our dormitories for five months. In this case, as a guest you pay the regular rent plus a fee totaling 40,00 € per month (20,00 € guest fee + 20,00 € short-term fee).

If you have received your admission document, you can apply for a room on our online portal. We show you how to do this here.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to apply without a valid enrolment document or admission letter.

Applicants for degree programmes that are not subject to admission restrictions can apply without an admission letter.

Yes, you can also apply for several locations. All you have to do is register with your user data in the online portal and create a new application with your existing profile.

No. You can generally apply any time after enrolling successfully or receiving an admission letter. However, the sooner we receive your application, the better chance you will have.

Rooms are rented out all year round. The tenancy agreements generally begin at the start of the semester, e.g. 01.03/01.04 or 01.09./01.10 of a year.

We process applications in the order they arrive. Please note that we do not have a waiting list for specific residences. The sooner you apply online, the better your chances of being allocated the accommodation of your choice. 

We cannot make any general statements about how long you will have to wait for accommodation, as it depends on many different factors. In past years, we have always been able to find a room for every student within a short space of time.

As soon as a room is free, we send you an offer by email. More detailed information on the application procedure is available here.

Note: We save your application for twelve months from the date of application. Every month, you automatically receive a reminder email in which you have to click to renew your application. If you do not update your application within this period, it is subsequently deleted and you will have to make a new application.

The 700,00 € reservation fee is required as a security for STUDIERENDENWERK. After you move in, this fee will be counted as a deposit. In accordance with the terms of the tenancy agreement, the deposit will be returned to you around eight weeks after tenancy ends, provided that you leave your room in clean and tidy condition.

Note: Separate conditions apply to our dormitory in Bülowstraße 51-55, Mülheim. The reservation fee is 1041,00 € and will be refunded at the earliest 10 weeks after the end of the rental period.

We appreciate that you would like to have a look at your potential new home in advance. However, we are unable to conduct viewings because, as the landlord, we are not allowed to enter rented residential property.

You can nevertheless visit our student houses of your own accord and arrange with current tenants to view a room.

If this is the case, your application will no longer be considered. You can simply apply again at a later time.

The maximum amount of time you can live in a student residence has been set to ten semesters. The tenancy agreement can be terminated at the end of the first year of residence at any time with three months' notice. There are special regulations for exmatriculation (only within the first year of residence) as well as for program students and guests.

Exception: In our dormitory Bülowstraße 51-55 in Mülheim, the tenancy agreement is always issued for one year. After each year, it can be extended up to a maximum of ten semesters.

Guests we charge a monthly fee, which is due in addition to the rent. It amounts to 20,00 €/month.

Who is considered a guest in the dormitory of STUDIERENDENWERK?
We consider all students who are not enrolled at one of these three universities to be guests: University of Duisburg-Essen, Folkwang University of the Arts, Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences.

In this respect, the total rent of program/exchange students also includes this monthly guest flat rate of 20,00 €.

You pay your rent quickly and easily by direct debit. It is generally debited from your account up to the third working day of a month.

Note: Payments can only be debited from a German account or an account in another EU country (if the Euro is an official currency of that country).

The caretaker responsible for your accommodation will give you your key on the day you move in. Please arrange an appointment with the caretaker by phone two weeks in advance.

It is usually possible to move in from the third working day of the month (Monday to Friday) after arranging an appointment with the caretaker by phone. If your tenancy agreement begins on a Saturday, Sunday or an official public holiday, you can only move in after that day.

If the room is ready for you to move into and no other work is needed, a slightly earlier moving-in date may be possible. We regret that it is not possible to move in before the start of the month.

Many of our rooms are furnished with a bed, a wardrobe, shelves, a desk and a desk chair. No mattresses are provided in the student residence on Rottstraße. The rooms in the residences on Ruhrorter Straße, Schemkesweg 41-45 and Tulpenstraße are not always fully furnished. In some of the rooms you can bring your own furniture with you. We do not provide inventory such as dishes, bedding or similar items.

The student residence management team will be happy to give you more detailed information on what is provided in specific residences.

When you rent a room, you can apply to move to a specific property. Places are allocated via a waiting list. Please talk to your accommodation officer in the student residence management.

You are required to register with the registration office for residents (Einwohnermeldeamt) in your town within seven days of moving in. International students are required to register with the local Foreign Nationals Office (Ausländerbehörde). You must decide when registering whether your student accommodation is your first or second place of residence.

Residents who are not receiving assistance under the Training Assistance Act (BAföG) must register radios, TVs and computers that are capable of receiving broadcasts with the licence fee collection service (ARD ZDF Beitragsservice). A fee is charged for use of these devices. For more information please visit the ARD ZDF Beitragsservice website.

A flat-rate fee is charged for each apartment, so that in principle each household has to pay the TV fee of 18.36 € per month. It is irrelevant how many TVs are available in the household (including the radios in private cars) and how many people live in the household. A contribution must be paid for each apartment.

If a second residence is registered in addition to the primary residence, both apartments must be paid for.

Registration or cancellation of broadcasting fees: www.rundfunkbeitrag.de

Further information: www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/welcome

• One contribution is paid per shared flat. This means that an adult must be registered to pay the TV liscence fee of €18.36 for the shared flat.
• If the rooms of the dormitory are constructed like a shared flat, with a lockable door separated from the hallway, then the flatmates can share the contribution.
• If the dormitory rooms come from a generally accessible corridor (even with a shared bathroom or kitchen), then each student must pay € 18.36 per person.

• If students receive BAföG, they can apply to be exempted from broadcasting fees, as can asylum seekers who receive benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. Attention: In a shared flat the exemption does not apply to the other flatmates. Only if all persons receive BAföG or are asylum seekers does the complete WG not pay.
• Recipients of social benefit or unemployment benefit II including benefits according to § 22 without surcharges according to § 24 of the Second Social Code. As a rule, however, this does not apply to students.
• Deaf-blind people and recipients of assistance for the blind according to §72 SGB XII or §27d BVG.

The following groups of people who have been awarded the "RF" mark pay a third of €5.83 per month:

• Blind and visually impaired people with a degree of disability of at least 60% (due to vision impairment alone).
• Hearing-impaired people who are deaf and who are unable to communicate adequately through their hearing, even with hearing aids.
• Disabled people whose degree of disability is not only temporary at least 80%.

There are no special rules for foreign students, including scholarship holders or students in exchange programmes (e.g. Erasmus).

Please check the foreign-language offer for further information about the TV licence fee: www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/welcome

In contrast to the free housing market, the costs for electricity*, water, heating and Internet access are included in the rent in most cases. Additional payments are excluded for our tenants.

*We have been receiving green electricity in our dormitories since 2022.

On the one hand, many of our houses have integrated common rooms in which students can learn together and get to know each other. On the other hand, our tutors regularly organize events and leisure activities. These include, for example, games, cooking or country evenings and excursions to the Aachen Christmas Market.

In addition, our Sprachcafé, the Café-Lingua, on the Essen, Duisburg and Folkwang campuses offers the opportunity to network with students from all over the world.

Internet: You receive an email from us with your internet access data. You can access the internet either with a LAN cable or by WLAN router, although we do not provide either the router or the LAN cable.

TV: Your rent generally covers the cost of a cable TV connection. All you need to do is connect your device with a suitable cable. You must provide your own cable, as it is not part of the inventory.

Telephone: There is a telephone connection in many of our student residences, but you must take out your own contract with a provider of your choice and buy the relevant equipment.

If you have any problems with the internet, an IT company called Faron Service is your first point of contact. Faron is responsible on our behalf for the stability of the network and helps with network problems.

Gigaspeedsurfer Netz Essen/Duisburg

A project of:
Faron Service Ltd.
Economiestraat 39 BU 37
NL-6433 KC Hoensbroek

The provider’s Hotline is available 24 hours a day on 0228 ⁄ 286283430 (telephone computer).

We always request that our tenants keep the communal rooms (kitchens, bathrooms) on the corridors clean and tidy. We clean the floors, but you are responsible for keeping the fixtures and fittings clean. In the shared apartments, you as the tenant are responsible for cleaning.

There are generally washing machines and clothes dryers in almost every student residence. It currently costs around 1.50 € to 2.60 € per washing and drying load.

There is plenty of space to park your car or motorbike on the grounds of our student residences. In some cases you can rent parking spaces for a small fee.

No, it is not permitted to keep pets at our residences.

No. We recommend that our tenants take out their own household and personal liability insurance. Students can usually be insured at little cost through their parents. Please remember that losing a key can be very expensive. You should therefore check with your insurance whether it also covers loss of keys.

Rooms can only be sublet or let for a short term in exceptional cases (semester abroad or practical semester) after prior approval by the student residence management.

Only fully enrolled students can be considered as subtenants. Please contact your tenant advisor for more information.

Note: It is not permitted to sublet rooms to third parties or to accommodate family members.

Inform your person responsible of your specific move request by e-mail. We keep internal moving lists in which we will be happy to add you.

The waiting period can last several months, depending on your preferences. Our dormitory administration will contact you unsolicited if your desired room is available. An administration fee of 40,00 € will be charged for such a move.

In an emergency (e.g. power outage throughout the student residence or over a complete floor, or a burst pipe), please contact the caretaker. When he is not on duty, you can call our emergency service on work days from 17.00 to 7.00 and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays on +49 151 17437525.

You lost your key or locked yourself out? Or your key has broken off in the door cylinder? No need to panic! Our caretakers, an emergency service or in the last instance an external key emergency service can help!

Please note that you must identify yourself as a tenant when opening the door. If you lose your key, you will have to pay the cost of a new lock. Change of batteries of the electronic locking cylinders by the emergency service are always at the tenant‘s expense.

An administration fee of  25,00 € will also be charged for a new locking card. If the key is broken, a replacement key will be charged.

If necessary, additional costs may be incurred if the door is opened by an external service provider (emergency number, key service). You will receive the invoice by post or e-mail from the residence administration.

Property management
Please contact your caretaker during service hours. 

Essen and Mülheim: Mon to Thurs 07:00 am – 04:00 pm, Fri 07:00 am – noon

Duisburg: Mon to Thurs 07:00 am – 03:30 pm, Fri 07:00 am – noon

Central emergency number: +49 151 17437525
Outside our service hours, please contact the central emergency number.

Mon to Fri 05:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sat and Sun, holidays 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

The emergency service does not apply to Bülowstraße. There you have to contact a locksmith directly.

Locksmith/key service, Schlüsseldienst Kötter: +49 201 2788110

Should such a mishap happen to you even outside the service hours of the emergency number, the only solution you have is to contact the company Kötter.

Notes:

• Kötter can only open doors in the event of key/locking card loss, defective locking card or self-lockout.
• Kötter cannot open room doors that have a lever tumbler lock. In such cases, all you can do is inform the caretaker or call the central emergency number the next working day.

Costs for door opening by the central emergency service or the Kötter company (from 01.03.2022)

Mon to Fri 05:00 pm – 10:00 pm
80,00 €

Mon to Fri 10:00 pm – 07:00 am
120,00 €

Sat, Sun and holidays all-day
120,00 €

If your key card is not working, you can contact the caretaker or the emergency service if the caretaker is not on duty.

Outside our office hours, please contact the central emergency service: +49 151 17437525.

Mo to Fr 10:00 pm – 7:00 am
Sat and Sun, holidays: 10:00 pm – 10:00 am

In the case of a regular cylinder and/or door defect, you will not incur any costs. If, however, deliberate damage to the door/closure is found, you will have to bear the cost of emergency service. The same applies to emptying the battery in the electronic locking cylinder. For the latter, we recommend that you read the cylinder instructions that you received with your rental agreement again in order to rule out future defects.

You can report any damage and/or missing items through the student residence online portal.

1. Log into the online portal
   Enter your data (e-mail and password) under the menu item "Contracts". You will then be forwarded to a list view of your rental agreements.
    
2. Activate damage report
   Activate the currently valid rental agreement by clicking on it and then select the menu item "Damage report".
    
3. Create a damage report
   Fill out the form (location, category, type and damage description) completely and click on "Send". Please indicate in the form whether we are allowed to enter your flat/WG-room in your absence.

You can check your report at any time under the “Overview of enquiries” menu item, where you will also find any reply from the management.

Notice to terminate your tenancy agreement must be made in writing and on paper with an original signature. Termination by mail or fax is not legally valid.

You can find a sample termination of tenancy form here.

You can send us the form by post or hand it in to us in person.

You can terminate the rental agreement at the end of the first year of residence (12 months) and at the end of any following month, retaining a 3-month cancellation period. Notice of termination must be given latest on the third working day of a month before the end of the month thereafter.

In the following exceptional cases, the tenancy can also be terminated in the first year of residence: In the case of exmatriculation due to

• graduation,
• a change of university,
• resignation or
• failure to pass the final examination.

In these cases, a special termination to the end of the following month after removal from the student register becomes effective (date from which no longer registered) can be recognised on condition that evidence (document confirming that the student is no longer on the student register, Exmatrikulationsbescheinigung) is submitted to STUDIERENDENWERK in the month of issue or at the latest on the third working day of the following month. Please note that a backdated and/or forced exmatriculation does not fall under the right of special termination.

You can arrange to have your room pre-inspected by the caretaker so that you know if there is anything you have to take care of before moving out.

Please make an appointment with your caretaker around 14 days before the date on which you want to move out. Please clear your room or apartment as described in the General Terms and Conditions of Tenancy by your moving-out date so that the caretaker can inspect the room or apartment with you.

If you are unable to attend the appointment in person on the day, someone else can do the handover on your behalf. Please arrange this with us in advance.

Your room key must be returned in person. If your key is left in the caretaker’s letterbox, you will be charged for any defects subsequently found.

Provided that you have met all the conditions of your tenancy agreement, your deposit will be returned to you around eight weeks after the official end of your tenancy; it is paid into an account as instructed by you.

Note: Tenants of our dormitory in Bülowstraße 51-55 in Mülheim will receive their deposit back at the earliest ten weeks after the end of their tenancy.

Tenants who have already lived in one of our student residences can re-apply for accommodation if they have not exceeded the maximum length of tenancy when they moved out. Previous tenancy periods are deducted from the term of any new agreement.