German

German

Flat Hunting?

BEWARE OF ROOM OFFERS LIKE THIS!!!

Male flatmates wanted +++ Only for students+++ Affordable rooms +++ Large house with party cellar +++ Living in a community +++ Freshmen welcome

An affordable room in an attractive location and friendship for life. Doesn’t that sound good? But there’s a catch…

…What at first appears to be an unsuspicious advertisement on the notice boards in apartments is actually coming from a student fraternity (or gymnastics club, corps, country club, student association, Catholic fraternity, Wingolf, etc.) What lies behind such a community becomes clear once you have moved into the fraternity house. After moving in, they are usually asked to join the fraternity. Joining the fraternity means submitting to the authority of a reactionary male association. From then on, you will be expected to conform to a conservative world view. Questioning peer pressure and subordination is actively discouraged. In some of these fraternities, bloody fencing battles (Mensuren) are still fought. In many member fraternities of the „Deutsche Burschenschaft“ (in Hanover, only the Ghibellinia), an openly right-wing extremist world view is propagated. Neo-Nazis are known to live in some such fraternity houses, the German borders are not recognized by many and a nationalist-racist definition of „being German“ is still upheld in many places.

There are a few alternatives, even if the housing market in Hanover tends to collapse every winter semester. As Hanover, like most major German cities, has seen a massive increase in rents in recent years, it is anything but easy to find an apartment, especially for students. We have therefore put together a few tips to help you find accommodation. We wish you every success!

Alternatives for finding a Room

Schwesternhaus

Centrally located on Braunschweiger Platz in Hanover, around 120 student residents live in the Schwesternhaus. Open to all genders and fields of study, the listed building in the street of the same name has an eventful history behind it, so that hardly any residents will forget this home so quickly.

The Schwesternhaus is self-managed. The student tenants are responsible for all the maintenance, care and modernization of the building. Everyone contributes something: the water nurses take care of the water pipes, the renovation nurses take care of structural work, the garden nurses look after the garden, and so on.

Cooperation is the central idea of the house. The grassroots democratic approach enables every resident to participate in the management of the house and to contribute their own ideas to the house, because the house lives solely from the commitment of the residents. The house offers its residents 70 apartments and 50 shared rooms, a large and a small function room and a garden. And thanks to the self-administration, the prices are far below the regular rental prices for Hanover

Address: SchwesternhausVerein e.V. / Schwesternhausstr. 10-2a / 30173 Hanover

Website

Temporary accommodation:

Hanover Youth Hostel

The youth hostel is located close to the city center.

Price: bed and breakfast 17,60€ – 22,50€
Ferdinand-Wilhelm-Fricke-Weg 1
30169 Hanover
Phone: 0511/131-7674
Fax: 0511/185-55
e-mail: jh-hannover@djh-hannover.de

Tourist association „Naturfreunde“

Double or shared room: 20€
Single room: 23€
Hermann-Bahlsen-Allee 8
30655 Hanover
Telephone: 0511/6914-93

Student Dormitories

The Studentenwerk offers accomodation at relatively low cost. Some of the Studentenwerk’s 14 halls of residence are located in the immediate vicinity of the university. Students who are enrolled at one of the universities in Hanover are entitled to accommodation.

The rooms in the dormitories are furnished and most of them also have low-cost internet access. The monthly rent for a room in a hall of residence is currently between €148 and €228 per month, depending on the size.

You can find further information, photos and application forms here.

Private housing market

Many room offers and requests are posted on the various bulletin boards around the university campus. In the Welfenschloß main building, there are at least 5 on each floor. In the Theodor Lessing House right behind the main building where the Social Sciences Library is located, there are also several such boards. There are also some in the libraries, in every department, in the canteens, dormitories, etc. Stud.IP also features a virtual bulletin board.

On these, people will often insert so-called WG rooms (WG means „WohnGemeinschaft“, in which several people share an apartment). The kitchen and bathroom are shared in these flats.

Housing Cooperatives

So-called housing or building cooperatives can also provide cheaper housing, especially for new shared apartments or if you are looking for your own small apartment. There are many in Hanover. Simply enter „Hannover Wohnungsgenossenschaft“ into a search engine. You usually have to pay a cooperative share, which is comparable to a normal apartment deposit.

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