We help you prepare the Wohngeld application — in your language, without the income calculation confusion.
Start preparation →Wohngeld is a government housing subsidy that can reduce your monthly rent by €100 to €400. It exists specifically for people with low incomes who are employed, retired, or studying — not receiving Bürgergeld.
But the application asks for detailed income information across your entire household. Gross income. Net income. Deductions. Every household member. And if something is entered incorrectly or missing, the Wohngeldstelle sends it back and processing starts over — weeks lost.
Many people do not apply because the form is difficult to navigate in a foreign language.
We built GermanyFlow so that a complicated income form does not stand in the way of a clearer application.
A completed Wohngeld application form with your household income, rent amount, and personal data — a draft prepared for use with the official blank form.
Not a calculator. Not a blank form. A filled preparation example with your real data for review before using the official form.
The official blank Wohngeld form is a free public document from your local authority. You can download it directly from your city's Wohngeldstelle.
Download blank form (PDF)GermanyFlow is not a government service and is not affiliated with any Wohngeldstelle or German authority. We help you prepare your application. You submit it yourself at the Wohngeldstelle.
Wohngeld is a state subsidy towards housing costs — a rent subsidy for tenants and a burden subsidy for people who own the home they live in (§ 1 (2) WoGG). It is not a benefit for the unemployed: it exists for households whose income is too high for basic income support and too low for the rent. Three things decide it — how many household members count, how much rent counts, and the total income (§ 4 WoGG) — and one date decides when the money starts. This guide explains who can claim, what raises and lowers the amount, how the application and the twelve-month period work, and what you must report. All of it is from the Wohngeldgesetz, linked at the end.
Any natural person who rents the home they live in can claim the rent subsidy; people with a comparable right of use, people living in their own house with more than two flats, and residents of a home under the Heimgesetz are treated the same way (§ 3 (1) WoGG). Owners of the property they live in claim the burden subsidy instead (§ 3 (2) WoGG). If several people in one household qualify, only one of them holds the claim (§ 3 (3) WoGG). You are excluded while you receive Grundsicherungsgeld under SGB II, basic security in old age or subsistence assistance under SGB XII, benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act or the other benefits listed in § 7 (1) WoGG — those already cover housing costs. The exclusion also runs during the procedure that decides such a benefit, but it counts as never having happened for periods where the application is withdrawn, the benefit is refused or withdrawn, or it is granted only as a loan (§ 8 WoGG).
Wohngeld is paid only on application (§ 22 (1) WoGG), and the approval period begins on the first of the month in which the application arrives (§ 25 (2) WoGG). Applying on the 30th therefore still buys you the whole month; applying two days later costs it. Two more dates are worth writing down. First, a follow-up application filed earlier than two months before the current period ends counts as filed on the first of that second-to-last month (§ 22 (4) WoGG) — so do not send it too early either. Second, if a benefit under § 7 (1) — Grundsicherungsgeld, for instance — is refused, the Wohngeld period can begin on the first of the month from which that benefit was refused, provided your Wohngeld application arrives before the end of the calendar month following the one in which you learned of the refusal (§ 25 (3) WoGG).
Wohngeld is paid to the entitled person, monthly in advance; with your written consent — or where the case requires it — it can go to another household member or straight to the landlord (§ 26 WoGG). During the period you can ask for a new decision in your favour: if the number of household members rises, if the eligible rent less the heating relief rises by more than 10 %, or if the total income falls by more than 10 % and the Wohngeld therefore increases, it is re-approved on application, and in the rent case even retroactively, at the earliest from the start of the current period (§ 27 (1) WoGG). Changes that work the other way are decided by the authority itself from the moment they occur (§ 27 (2) WoGG), which is why the law obliges you to report them.
A refusal comes as a written decision with a Rechtsbehelfsbelehrung — the paragraph that names the remedy and the deadline. Follow exactly what it says, because that paragraph is the authoritative one for your case; in the administrative procedure the objection is generally to be lodged within one month of notification, in writing or on the record at the authority that issued the decision (§ 70 (1) VwGO). If you were refused because you receive one of the benefits in § 7 (1) WoGG, that is not a permanent bar: the exclusion counts as not having happened for any period in which the other benefit is refused, withdrawn or granted only as a loan (§ 8 WoGG). This page is general information, not legal advice; for a refusal, take the decision to a tenants' association, a social counselling service or a lawyer inside the deadline it names.
No. Anyone receiving Grundsicherungsgeld under SGB II — or SGB XII benefits, or benefits under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act — is excluded from Wohngeld for that time, because those benefits already cover housing costs (§ 7 (1) WoGG).
From the first of the month in which your application arrives at the Wohngeldbehörde (§ 25 (2) WoGG). It is then paid monthly in advance (§ 26 (2) WoGG).
Yes, as a burden subsidy (Lastenzuschuss) for the home they live in themselves (§ 1 (2), § 3 (2) WoGG).
From three factors — the household members who count, the eligible rent up to the maximum for your household size and Mietenstufe, and the total income — using the formula in § 19 WoGG. Heating relief and a climate component are added to the maximum amounts (§ 12 (6) and (7)).
Twelve months as a rule; the authority may shorten or split the period, or extend it up to 24 months where circumstances are expected to stay the same (§ 25 (1) WoGG).
If the eligible rent less the heating relief rises by more than 10 %, the Wohngeld is re-approved on application, retroactively at the earliest to the start of the current period (§ 27 (1) WoGG).
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