Housing for international students at the University of Hohenheim

Rental period

The rooms can only be rented analogously to the semesters and only for whole semesters:

It is not possible to rent rooms for shorter periods of time.

The maximum rental period for Master's students is 4 semesters, for students for whom Hohenheim is the host university as part of a double or triple degree, two semesters, and for exchange students, one to two semesters, depending on admission.

Moving in early

Are you coming to Hohenheim before the start of the semester, i.e. in August or September or March, because, for example, you are taking part in an intensive course at our Language Center or in a start-up module of your degree program? In this case you can apply for the room earlier (please note our "Notes on the application"). If a room is available at the requested time, you will receive an earlier and correspondingly longer lease. It is advisable to apply for a residence hall room as early as possible in these cases. This does not change the end date of the lease.

If you arrive a day or two earlier due to international flight times, you can find addresses of hotels and guesthouses near Hohenheim on our website. Moving into the residence hall room before the start of the contract is not possible.

Moving in later

The room is firmly reserved for you with the acceptance and payment. However, you do not have to move in at the beginning of the month, you can also move in shortly before the start of lectures, i.e. in the middle of the month. Even if you arrive late, for example because the visa issuance has been delayed, you are allowed to keep the room. Of course, rent must also be paid for the time you are not yet in Hohenheim. In this case, also do not forget to arrange a move-in date in time!

Terminating the rental agreement

The lease can only be terminated at the end of the semester within the notice period. It is not possible to terminate the lease during the semester. If you would like to cancel your room in advance, e.g. because of a study abroad or internship, please be sure to observe the notice period in your rental contract. If you miss it, you will have to pay for the room until the official end of the contract!

Cancellation of the contract is not possible after acceptance. If you are unable to come to Hohenheim after all for personal reasons (e.g. because your visa application was rejected), you should contact the residence hall administration immediately. If your room can be rented to another student, early termination is possible. You will then only have to pay the rent until the date of the new lease.

Good to know: Residence hall leases are valid during a semester leave of absence, however, a semester of leave of absence does not extend the maximum lease term. This means that you do not have to move out because you are on leave for a semester, e.g. for health reasons, but the period of residence is also not extended to 5 semesters due to the semester of leave.

If you will not be in Hohenheim during the leave of absence, it is a good idea to clarify with the residence hall management whether you can interrupt the rental contract (be sure to observe the notice periods in the rental contract!) and then get a room again for the remaining period of residence. Also remember that subleases are not permitted during the lecture period.

The residence hall administration accepts applications for the winter semester beginning April 1, and for the summer semester beginning October 1. Although the residence hall administration does not give a firm application deadline, we strongly encourage you to apply no later than June 15 for the winter semester or January 15 for the summer semester.

It is still possible to apply after these dates, but the chances of getting a room decrease the later you apply! This also applies to the room contingent for international applicants. Planning how many free rooms are needed is only possible if you contact us early. 

Generally, the deadlines are such that you can wait to apply until you receive your admission letter. However, you can also apply in advance, but then you must submit the admission letter by email as soon as possible. The residence hall administration can only allocate rooms to applicants who have received a letter of admission! 

Yes, still apply within the above time frames. Unfortunately, visas are often issued shortly before the start of the study program, so it may be too late to apply for a dormitory or the chances of getting a room are very low. By the way, the visa does not have to be presented at the time of application.

The deadlines are not cut-off dates, i.e. the application will still be accepted afterwards. However, the chances of getting a residence hall room decrease the later you apply.

Especially if you apply after the semester has started, you have practically no realistic chance of getting a room in that semester!

• Residence Hall: see “Can I choose the room/residence hall?”

• Desired move-in date The leases begin on October 1 and April 1, respectively. If you would like to move in one month/two months earlier, e.g. for a language course or a start-up module, select "in the current semester on” (im laufenden Semester zum) here and then enter the corresponding date (start of month only!). Allocation depends on whether rooms become available ahead of time, but in any case, apply as early as possible!

• Rental period: You can specify here how long you want to rent the room. However, the duration always refers to a complete semester, i.e. Master’s students can specify up to 24 months (= 4 semesters), exchange students 6 or 12 months (1 or 2 semesters). Shorter periods (e.g. 3 or 4 months) are not possible.
  Exception: If you want to move in one month earlier, enter 7, 13, or 25 months accordingly. Other time periods are not possible!

• Surname: Please enter your name exactly as it appears in your passport! After your arrival you will receive a "Wohngeberbestätigung" from the residence hall administration. You must present this to the Residents' Registration Office and the Foreigners' Office, and for this it is important that your name has been entered correctly.
  It goes without saying that your name should also have been entered correctly and identically in the admission process, i.e. that your admission letter matches your dormitory application.

• Marital status/partner/children: You only need to fill in these fields if your partner - and/or your children - would like to move in with you and you would like to apply for a family room.
  Many students who have families come to Hohenheim on their own during the first semester in order to organize everything for the family on site. If you plan to do so as well, you can of course apply for a dorm room for yourself for the first semester. Then leave the above fields blank accordingly to avoid misunderstandings.
  You can, of course, apply for the room for a longer period than one semester and cancel it as soon as you know when your family will join you, but then be sure to observe the notice periods.
  
  The residence hall rooms are rented for only one person to use. It is not possible to have a second person live in the room. This also applies to family members. There are some family apartments available in the residence halls, but the number is very small and the waiting list is usually long. Of course, you can apply for one of these family rooms. Assignments are made directly through the residence hall administration, not as part of the room allotment for international students. However, due to the small number of family rooms, you should definitely look for an apartment on the private market at an early stage.

• Communication with the residence hall administration is done via email. You will also receive the room offer by email. Therefore, specify an address where you can be reached reliably and quickly. Since these are often automatically generated emails - and for your email provider, mails "from abroad" - you should also regularly check your spam folder.
  It is also best to use an email address from a "traditional" email service. In recent semesters, it has become apparent that emails sent to accounts on messenger services (e.g., "@163.com" or "@qq.com") have very often not been delivered, and you run the risk of losing the offered room if you do not meet the deadline for acceptance!

• You will not receive a certificate of enrollment until you are enrolled and have received your student ID. You should then immediately turn them in to the residence hall administration. To apply, upload your admission letter in this field instead. If you have not yet been admitted, please submit the notice to the residence hall administration via email as soon as possible.

The Studierendenwerk Tübingen-Hohenheim assigns rooms according to availability. If you have certain preferences (if you prefer to live in a shared apartment or prefer to live in a single apartment) you can indicate this in your application and then also select up to 3 preferred residence halls.

The residence hall administration will make every effort to offer you a room that matches your request, but we cannot guarantee that this will be possible. If these rooms are all occupied, the residence hall administration will offer you a room in one of the other residence halls. Since the application is non-binding, you can decide after receiving the offer whether you want to rent the offered room or not. However, please note that if you do not like the room, you will not be able to receive a new offer for that semester. You should then immediately look for a room yourself on the open housing market.

It is also not possible to exchange rooms after moving in.

For information on this question, see "Are there any special points I should consider when applying?"

• After the application has been received, you will periodically receive a link via email that you must use to confirm that you are still interested in a room. If you fail to do so, your application will be deactivated and you will not receive a room! Therefore, if necessary, also check your spam folder regularly.
• There is no pre-determined "day X" when rooms are assigned. The timing depends on several factors. Generally, the mailing of offers can begin three months before the start of the semester and lasts until shortly before the start of the lease.
  In order for the room to be firmly reserved for you, you must accept the offer, i.e. sign it, and return it to the dormitory administration within the set deadline, as well as transfer the deposit and the rent for the first month within the same deadline. If you miss the deadline, the offer will be canceled!
• You will then receive move-in information from the residence hall administration. Depending on the day and time you arrive, you will need to schedule a move-in appointment in a timely manner. If you fail to make this appointment early, you may have to spend the first night(s) in a hotel at your own expense.

The application for a dormitory room is non-binding. You can cancel the application or even decline a room offer at any time without incurring any costs. If you receive an offer and want to reserve the room bindingly, the payment is due. You must send the deposit and the first month's rent to the Studierendenwerk and email proof of the transfer to the dormitory administration along with your room acceptance.
The deadline for acceptance and transfer is usually about 1 week, which means that you should make sure that you have the necessary funds in time.

From the second month of the contract, the rent will be debited from your account in Germany, i.e. you must open an account or activate your account immediately after your arrival in Germany and give the dormitory administration a direct debit authorization (you will receive the necessary form from the dormitory administration when you move in).

Payment in cash, by credit card, or by bank transfer is not possible for the rental payments starting in the second month.

Deposit

The deposit is € 600 (as of August 2022) and is identical for each residence hall. However, the amount may increase and you will find the applicable deposit on your quote. The room will be checked by the facility manager in charge when you move out. If no defects are found (inventory complete, no damage, the room is cleaned), the deposit will be returned to you within the period stated in the rental agreement. If repairs or cleaning are necessary, these costs will be deducted from your deposit.

In this case, use the letter you will find in the attachments to your admission letter. This confirmation that we try to accommodate all new-arriving students in the dormitory is usually accepted by the embassies. If you need a confirmation with a more current date, please feel free to contact us.

If you need to prove that you actually applied for a room, please contact the dormitory administration directly.

You will find your address whether on your room offer you received from the dormitory administration.

For example:

The address in this example is: Egilolfstr. 51/206, 70599 Stuttgart.

In general, the residence hall administration at the Studierendenwerk Tübingen-Hohenheim is responsible for all questions or problems regarding the dormitories. However, if you have any questions about the FAQs on this page, please feel free to contact us by email (aaa@ua.uni-hohenheim.de).