Germany is not like the Texas suburbs I grew up in, with their obsessive-compulsive zoning laws separating business, homeowner, and apartment dweller. Many houses in Germany contain built-in apartments, and many regular homeowners are also landlords. Given their population/landmass ratio, Germans have only a ninth as much area per person as we have. Also, the majority of Germans rent instead of buy, so apartments are a fact of life. (“Buying”) And family ties are strong. A built-in apartment is a prudent way to provide for a child or an aging parent.
The very large house in the photo above certainly contains multiple families. We can see three separate entrances, for a start. But a house needn’t have a separate entrance to hold more than one household.
This charming house has only one front door. But that door opens onto a locked entrance hall and a stairwell. The homeowners live on the ground floor and basement floor–technically another ground floor since the house is built into a hill. Their tenant lives in an apartment under the roof.
Once you know to look for them, you’ll find evidence everywhere of apartments built into “regular” houses. You may notice a separate street entrance for a basement level.
And if it’s registered as a separate residence, it will have its own mailbox.
What does this mean for Americans who are moving to Germany?
It means that you will very likely end up with three floors. After living on three stories for seven years, I swore I wouldn’t do it again, but Joe and I have fallen in love with a two-story house that contains a full basement apartment. Many duplexes are three-story units as well.
It means that you may have two full kitchens. That second oven can be very handy when the holidays roll around.
It also means that your landlords may live just upstairs or downstairs from you. In my experience, that’s one of the nicest things that can happen.
Now go back to look at the cute little yellow house from last week’s post. Do you see the apartment (and its mailbox)?
HowToGermany.com. “Buying a House or Apartment in Germany.” n.d. Retrieved from http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/housebuying.html
To read my latest blog posts, please click on the “Green and Pleasant Land” logo at the top of this page. Photos taken in January, 2012, in Rodenbach and Weilerbach, Germany. Text and photos copyright Clare B. Dunkle and Joseph R. Dunkle.