3 July 2026 · Ekaterina Flugelman
Buying in Berlin as a non-German speaker
You can buy property in Germany without speaking German — if you know where language actually matters. The notary appointment, the documents, and where a translator is legally required.
Germany places no restrictions on foreign buyers: you don’t need citizenship, residency, or even a German bank account to own a Berlin apartment. What you do need is a strategy for the three moments where language genuinely matters.
1. The documents
Before you commit to a property you (or someone acting for you) must read the declaration of division (Teilungserklärung), the minutes of the owners’ association meetings (Protokolle der Eigentümerversammlung), the business plan (Wirtschaftsplan), and the land register extract (Grundbuchauszug). These documents are always in German, often decades old, and they contain exactly the things that later become expensive surprises: special assessments, disputes, renovation backlogs, unusual cost allocations.
Machine translation helps with the gist, but the nuances — a “beschlossene Sonderumlage” versus a merely “diskutierte” one — are where a German-reading advisor earns their fee.
2. The notary appointment
The purchase contract is notarized in German, and the notary is legally required to be satisfied that you understand what you are signing. If you don’t speak German well, you have two options: a sworn interpreter attends the signing (you arrange and pay), or the notary provides a bilingual contract draft. Either way, insist on receiving the draft at least two weeks before the appointment — for consumer purchases the notary must observe this waiting period anyway.
3. The follow-up bureaucracy
After signing comes the quieter paperwork: the transfer-tax assessment, the utility and Hausgeld transfers, registering with the property manager. None of it is difficult; all of it arrives in German, on paper, with deadlines.
The realistic conclusion
Plenty of internationals buy in Berlin every year without German. The ones for whom it goes smoothly have one thing in common: somebody in their corner who reads every document before they sign — whether that’s a bilingual friend with real-estate experience or a professional advisor. If you’d like that to be a consultation with someone who does this daily, you know where to find me.