Growing in Germany

[lester chester]

Hi there German growers.
Im planning to move to germany and start small grow here and i have few questions about living in your country.
If someone can answer them i will appreciate it a lot.

The main thing that interest me its how it is with energy.
What is the price of kWh and how they read the meter, how often they do it, do they have to come to my house or can i call them up and give the reading. What types of metres are mostly installed in houses are they the new elecronic ones or the old ones with spinning disc inside.

2nd one is how it is with the landlords, do they check the houses often and do they need to give any notification period before the visit.

Thats it i hope someone can answer them.

Thanks and good luck

Below im throwing in the same mesage but translated by google translator




Dies ist die Übersetzung der obigen Meldung von Google Übersetzer übersetzt, so bitte nicht böse wenn die Übersetzung ist nicht perfekt

Hallo gibt es Züchter in Deutschland.
Im Planungs nach Deutschland ziehen und klein anfangen wachsen hier, und ich habe einige Fragen über das Leben in Ihrem Land.
Wenn jemand sie beantworten kann ich schätzen es sehr.

Die Hauptsache, die mich interessieren, wie es ist seine Energie.
Was ist der Preis der kWh und wie sie die Zähler abzulesen, wie oft sie es tun, haben sie zu mir nach Hause kommen oder kann ich nennen sie sich und geben das Lesen. Welche Arten von Meter sind meist in Häusern installiert sind, sind sie die neuen elecronic Einsen oder die alten mit drehenden Scheibe im Inneren.

2. man ist, wie es mit den Vermietern, sie prüfen die Häuser oft und sie müssen keine Meldezeitraum vor dem Besuch zu geben.

Das wars ich hoffe jemand kann sie beantworten.

Vielen Dank und viel Glück

 

[Hans-von-Dampf]

okay, it really depends where you move, which city, which part of that city and actually ... which house you move into (don't answer that here!)

from where I live, I can tell you that

- if you move into a tenement, meters will probably be installed in the cellar ... all of them (so noone will have to enter your flat to read those. but then there's always the meters for water & heating, they are read out annually and you'll be notified weeks ahead)

-all tenements I ever lived in used the old-fashioned meters, didn't even know others exist until now

- landlords don't really visit your house and certainly not your flat unless there is a specific reason. you're not obliged to let anyone in anyway. you rent it, you decide who gets in unless from the mere look of it the landlord sees you're not keeping the house / flat in a decent shape

no real idea about pricing though ... anybody?

 

[lester chester]

Hi Hans

Thanks for quick reply

Are all meter read annually or only water and heating ?

Thanks

 

[Hans-von-Dampf]

I think electricity is read once a year, too. you won't have to do much but to sign for it, but it's always good to check and compare for yourself.

 

[JuC]

first i just got up and my english is not the best...

usually you read the electricity metre yourself and just send the numbers to the provider. may happen that they want to random check if you tell the truth though
water and (depending on your heating system) heat metres will be checked once a year.
but no panic, if so comes to your home, you will get notified weeks before as Hans already wrote.
and it's no problem to tell them to come later if the time they want to come is really bad. It's even possible that they estimate your usage and don't come again before next year.
as long as you grow in a small scale, best in a stealth cabinet, and use a carbon scrubber you'll be pretty safe.
golden rules are like everywhere: no tell, no smell, no sell

a kWh costs about .25€ , pretty expensive compared to most other countries...
It's no problem to have a high bill as long as you pay it.

your landlord needs to have a really good reason to "check" your home. but if he got one, i think it's only three days notification period... usually doesn't happen but that's one reason why i'm going stealth, so theres no fear from any visit.
He has no right just to check if he likes how you live in "his" property, a good reason usually needs to be security issues or something..

if you want to go really BIG, better get your own House. 1-2 lamps for personal use should be no problem even in a small flat

wish you a happy arrival in germany and hope you have a great time here!

 

[early_bird]

As other wrote, there ist no right for the landlord to make an inspection (like in australia, there it is normal to make inspections), something like this doesn´t exist here. But if something breaks, may some machanical wants to go into you rooms to repair something (make an appointment then). Also once a year the "Schornsteinfeger" comes and look for you heating and smoke pipe and measures if heating works efficently.
This takes 10 minutes, he also makes an appointment.

The landlord also have no right to keep a key. As long you are rent it, it is yours!

 

[early_bird]

Also, if you are using a lot of energy, tell your provider before that you need more than the estimate which is guessed in the first year.
So he charge you bit more in the montly bill and no questions get asked here

 

[lester chester]

JuC and early thanks for help.

I just have another one about that energy.

How often is energy meter readed, is it annually like water or every few months, here where i live its every 6 months but you can get away with just calling them up and giving the reading. Sometimes no one come to the house for years.

Oh and i almost forgot, how it is with communication in English, right now id dont speak german at all, i will go to language school but it may take me some time before i can speak and understand german. I know that in countries like norway or holland its not a problem but dont have a clue about germany.

Thanks again
Have a good day.

 

[JuC]

it's also once a year
i always sent the reading myself, i acutally have never seen anybody from the electricity provider, did everything online for years now...
But you pay a monthly "Abschlagszahlung" which is 1/12 from your estimated annually usage. Makes sense to increase this from the beginning, so there will be no questions (wont be anyway if you pay in time) and you don't have to pay too much at once..

english will be no problem if you are in a "bigger" City.
People will understand you nearly anywhere (if you talk slow ), but speaking is a different story in more rural areas...
everyone learns english at school but if people don't use it, they forget..
I would say Holland or Norway are better in english, because their languages aren't very common. But usually you will get along with english here just fine

 

[guanosin]

sorry i didnt read everything at the moment cuz im on the beach in Asia. but the only thing i can tell you is that DONT move to bavaria, you better move to Berlin, the law in bavaria is like holocaust! in berlin you can walk around smoking a joint and no one cares. In bavaria you will get hard penalty home searching and stuff like that...

fuck bavaria

 

[lester chester]

Thanks again JuC and Guanosin

I heard that bavaria is of the hook with laws over there.

Can some one tell me how it is with house renting

What documents i need, do i need to show any recomendation
or i just pay deposit and first month rent and i can move in ?

Thank and have a nice day

 

[guanosin]

without a job it will be hard to find something...depends on where youre going...recommondation from the last renter would be an advantage too. Germans are really worried about getting the money monthly so they mostly want to see your last three payrolls to make sure youre solvent. And english will be a problem in Germany, most People here (where i Live) speak a really bad english or no english. In big citys like Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt you could get along but it will still be difficult...Most public places are signed out in english there but thats it.

Funny story about that: Last week i was at the supermarket getting my deposit for bottles and there were 5 guys from India trying to return their bottles. They failed for like 3 minutes until i helped them and translated the deposit mashine into english because everything was just written and explained in german! People behind us got really annoyed for the delay. Thats Germany...People in a rush getting the money they need to buy stupid things to impress people they dont like. But i still found some good friends here

 

[Forscher]

Most things when it comes to renting are pretty flexible though. I got my flat by sweet talking the landlord without providing anything else than a fat stack of cash but given that you are unable to speak proper German finding a nice place might be an obstacle.

As said in the post by guanosin people want to get their monthly payments. Considering that it is the landlords property after all it is incredibly hard for him to force people out once they start breaking the contract by not paying the rent. Those situations, where people stop paying while still occupying the flat for months, can easily amount to a lot of monetary damage. This results in landlords being rather picky.

in berlin you can walk around smoking a joint and no one cares.

This mostly due to the fact that the city is dirt poor and the biggest sinkhole for German taxpayers money. The same pretty much goes for Hamburg and Bremen. They are simply unable to enforce minor offenses due to a lack of resources while Bavaria and BW are rich, have resources to spare and generally few other problems. People commonly mistake Berlin acting this way as some kind of liberalism which it is not.