Apply for a room as early as possible: ideally, at the same time as you apply to university or college. Earlier is also possible, of course. You do not need to have your enrollment certificate ready when you apply for a room with Studiwerk Mainz.

We rent out our dorm rooms in the months before the start of the semester. This means that our dorms are usually fully occupied at the start of the semester. By then, it is too late to apply for the current semester.

You can find the application form for a room here.

Important:

Find out what suits you best :: Price overview of the dormitories :: Facilities in the dormitories & types of accommodation  :: Am I eligible to live here – residence permit 

Yes, but if you apply during the semester, you will probably not get a room until the next semester at the earliest. Keep in mind that the semester begins on the first day of the month and not with the introductory week or lectures. At the beginning of the semester, all dormitories are usually full, which means that all rooms are rented out. 

The maximum length of stay for students with full eligibility is 7 semesters, i.e. 3.5 years. We will send you an email three months before the end of the semester to remind you that you can extend your lease for another semester.

If you are involved in voluntary work or submit a justified request, you can extend your stay beyond 7 semesters. For more information, see Extending your lease.

_{For residents with limited eligibility, an extension of the contract is only possible if there are still vacancies available in the following semester. Students with full eligibility have priority. The maximum length of stay remains limited. Please refer to the relevant section in your rental agreement.}

Apply as early as possible. You do not need to be enrolled or admitted to a university at the time of your application. Once you have your enrollment certificate, simply submit it via the rental portal. Enrollment only becomes important when you decide to sign a rental agreement.

Enrolled students at the following universities are given preference when it comes to awarding rental contracts because they are fully eligible for housing:

• Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (including preparatory college and music college)
• Mainz University of Applied Sciences
• Bingen University of Applied Sciences

Students from other universities and external, non-students must look for something else. We do not have any space for you. You cannot live with us. Since students from the above-mentioned universities who are eligible for housing always have priority with us and there has been a waiting list for years, you unfortunately cannot get a room in a dormitory from the Mainz Student Services Association. You will therefore have to find private accommodation.

The legal basis for these points can be found in the framework statutes of the Mainz Student Services dormitories. 
If you are still looking for other options, here is a tip: Check out the private room listings.

We offer an all-inclusive rental. This means that there are no additional costs for water, electricity, internet, and garbage disposal on top of the monthly rent. 

The rent does not include:

• Broadcasting license fee: further information www.rundfungbeitrag.de
• Laundry costs – if you want to do your laundry, you have to pay for it. The prices are posted in the respective laundry rooms of the dormitories.
• Costs of the Emergency locksmith service outside of the caretaker's working hours.

If you have not yet been admitted or are not yet sure whether you will be studying in Mainz or Bingen, you must weigh up the options yourself and decide whether you want to accept the contract or not. The validity of the rental agreement does not depend on this.

Submit your certificate of enrollment
As soon as you have your certificate of enrollment, please submit it for the current semester—preferably via the rental portal.

Without enrollment

If you are not enrolled, you must pay the applicable social contributions in addition to the regular rent in accordance with  §2 (3) of the framework statute Enrolled students pay these social contributions directly to the universities (JGU, HS Mainz, TH Bingen), which forward them to the Mainz Student Services Association for social services.

You will receive your rental agreement no earlier than 2 to 6 weeks before you move in.

Summer semester:
Between January and the end of March, we send out room and rental agreement offers for February, March, and April.

Winter semester:
Between July and the end of September, you will receive offers for rooms and rental agreements for August, September, and October.

The later your application, the later the offer:
We allocate rooms based on the date of your application. This means that the later you apply, the later you will receive an offer.

Your rental agreement will be sent by email:
We will send you offers for rooms in the Mainz Student Services dormitories by email. You will then have 1 to 3 days to confirm the offer. After this period, the offer expires and you will be automatically removed from the waiting list. Therefore, please check your email account regularly.

Have you been waiting a long time and still haven't heard from the Studierendenwerk Mainz?
Please check the following:

• Did you submit an application via the rental portal?
• Did you click on the confirmation link immediately afterwards so that your data could be transferred to the system?
• Did you click on the link in the email that arrives every few weeks to remain on the waiting list?

If you can answer “yes” to all of these questions and still haven't heard from us after a long time, please send us an  E-Mail 
Please also consider the start date of the contract you applied for. You can check this again in the rental portal. Log in and take a look.

By Mail: Rental agreements are sent by email from wohnen@studierendenwerk-mainz.de . Please check your emails regularly, including your spam folder, to ensure you don't miss any deadlines.

Have you been waiting a long time and still haven't heard anything from the Mainz Student Services Association?
Did you...

• submit an application via the rental portal?
• click on the confirmation link immediately afterwards so that your data could be transferred to our system?
• click on the link in the email that is sent out every few weeks to stay on the waiting list?

If you can answer “Yes!” to all of these questions, you are on the waiting list.  Log in to the rental portal . There you can see the date and type of accommodation you applied for.

If you applied several weeks or months ago and never received an email as described in point 3, please send us an email at  wohnen@studierendenwerk-mainz.de 

If you have checked when the rental agreements will be sent out and it is now shortly before the start of the rental period, please send us an email at wohnen@studierendenwerk-mainz.de

We strongly recommend that you take out personal liability insurance. This will cover you if you accidentally cause damage to your accommodation. The cost of repairs, for example if a siphon (the drain pipe in the shower) is unscrewed and damaged in the process, can quickly become very high. Without insurance, you will have to bear these costs yourself.

Please do not attempt to carry out repairs such as unscrewing a siphon yourself. Always contact the caretaker—they will help you and ensure that everything is done properly.

It is best to check whether you are still covered by your parents' family insurance—this is often the case with liability and household insurance. If not, we recommend that you take out liability and household insurance yourself. This protects you from high costs and gives you security in everyday life. The decision is, of course, yours.

www.studierendenwerke.de/en/topics/student-finance/costs-of-study/insurances-for-students/private-liability-insurance

In emergencies such as fire, explosions, water damage with running water, power failure, vandalism, or for the emergency locksmith service outside of the caretaker's working hours (subject to a charge), i.e., if you have locked yourself out, you can call the Dorm Emergency Service

For your information, the locksmith service is free of charge during the caretaker's working hours.

Fill out the repair form and drop it in the caretaker's mailbox.

Report everything!
Please report any damage you notice on the dormitory grounds, in your room or apartment, and in the common areas (e.g., in the hallways) directly to your caretaker. To do so, fill out a repair form, sign it, and drop it in the caretaker's mailbox.

In the Inter II, K3, Weisenau, Oberstadt, and Münchfeld dormitories, repair requests and damage can be reported in the rental portal. You can find out how to do this here: Report damages & repairs

Only the caretaker is allowed to carry out repairs
Please do not carry out any repairs yourself – for example, you should never remove the drain in the shower yourself! If something is blocked, inform the caretaker immediately. If you carry out repairs yourself and something goes wrong, you will have to pay the costs yourself. So protect yourself and always let the caretaker or a specialist company carry out the repairs.

We offer you a fixed-term lease for seven semesters. Your lease will therefore end automatically at the end of the 7th semester.

You can of course extend your lease. Read more under: How long can I live in the dormitory  or under Extent Contract.

Yes, but ...

you can move out of your room before the end of the contract, but you must continue to pay your rent until the end of the contractually agreed rental period.

If the tenant returns the rented property before the contractual end date or before the termination date, this does not expressly lead to a termination agreement with early termination of the contract. There is no special right of termination.

Further information on terminating the rental agreement can be found under Terminate rental contract.

Nein. Eine vorzeitige Beendigung des Mietverhältnisses vor Semesterende ist nicht möglich.

Wenn dein Vertrag zum Ende des aktuell laufenden Semesters endet, ist eine vorherige Kündigung oder Aufhebung des Mietverhältnisses nicht möglich. Die Mietzeit bis zum Ende des Semesters ist verpflichtend. Die Gültigkeit deines Mietvertrags ist ausdrücklich von einer Einschreibung/Immatrikulation nicht abhängig.

No, you cannot sublet your room. But you can terminate your contract.

For more information, see the page Terminate rental contract
Subletting your empty room is generally not possible. 

Yes, you can apply as a “returning tenant.”

Simply Terminate your rental contracta and apply for a room on the rental portal immediately afterwards. On the last page of the application, you will find the field “Notes and information for the Housing Team.” There, you can indicate that you are a returning tenant. You can also enter your old room number and tenant ID here and request to move back into exactly the same room. The Housing Team will try to fulfill your request. However, there is no guarantee that you will get your old room back after your stay abroad. In most cases, your successor will still be living there.

The earlier you apply, the better your chances are. You do not have to have moved out by the time you reapply, so you can apply while you are still living in your current room.

We only offer furnished accommodation. All flats, rooms, and apartments are equipped with at least a bed, wardrobe, desk, chair, shelf, and a private refrigerator.

Basic equipment such as duvets, pillows, bed linen, crockery, and towels are not included. You can bring these with you or buy such a Basic room equipment from us.

Internet in the dormitory

We use the university network in our dormitories. It can take approx. 1-2 weeks for the connection to be activated.

You can find detailed information on the dormitory page: Internet in the dormitory

In order to ensure that the financing of the residential homes is secured for the future despite rising prices, the Board of Directors decided on June 23, 2022, that the warm rent portion of the residential home rent will be increased in line with the consumer price index on September 1 each year. The rent increase will generally be announced in June.

To calculate the specific rent increase, price increases according to the CPI from June of the previous year to May of the current year will be taken into account.

The rent increase according to the CPI refers exclusively to the warm rent portion of the dormitory rent. What does this mean?

When determining the all-inclusive rent you have to pay, the Mainz Student Services Organization makes an internal distinction between the so-called warm rent and cold rent components. However, these terms have nothing to do with cold or warm rent as they may be known in the general rental market. The so-called cold rent portion comprises the repayment installments and interest from the financing of the dormitories or the rent that the Studierendenwerk pays to third parties as owners of dormitory buildings (e.g., for the Kisselberg dormitory). The warm rent portion covers all other costs, such as heating, water, electricity, caretaker, administration, maintenance, minor repairs, and property tax. Only this warm rent portion is subject to adjustment in line with the CPI and is calculated per bed. In the case of the cold rent portion, the rent increases passed on to us by the building owner are taken into account in the rent increase. The annual annuity that we pay to the bank for our own halls of residence remains the same.

How was the current rent increase calculated?

The warm rent portion broken down across all dormitories at the Mainz Student Services Association amounted to €183.78 in 2024. Only this portion of your all-inclusive rent is subject to adjustment according to the CPI. The CPI rose by 2.10% between June 24 and May 25. This results in an increase in the warm rent portion of €3.85. During the same period, the Studierendenwerk's rent payment obligations increased by €3.71 per bed due to contractual obligations or other rent increases. This results in a total rent adjustment of €7.56, rounded to €8.00. (Note: In 2022, a rent adjustment of €8 took place on September 1, resulting in a surplus of €1. This is to be credited against the rent increase on September 1, 2025, so that only a rent increase of €7 will take place).

What is not covered by the rent increase?

These rent increases do not cover additional expenses for regularly necessary major renovations, maintenance, and other investments in the dormitories. The administrative board of the student union decides on such additional rent increases separately at irregular intervals, depending on the needs.

In general, you have to pay the broadcasting license fee and register for it. If you don't, you will receive a retroactive reminder from the responsible authority about the amounts due. Why? You can find an explanation of the solidarity model at rundfunkbeitrag.de.

Can I be exempted or apply for a reduction?
You can find information on this at rundfunkbeitrag.de.

Do you live in a shared apartment?
In shared apartments, only one resident needs to pay: talk to your roommates and divide the fee among yourselves. This will make it cheaper for everyone.

We look forward to welcoming you to our halls of residence. It doesn't matter whether you are coming to Mainz or Bingen for your entire degree program or whether you are coming to the region on an exchange program. We offer you a new home in our halls of residence. 

We recommend that you complete the online application for a room 

• before January 15 (summer semester) or
• before July 15 (winter semester).

This will give you the best chance of getting a place in the dormitory.

Then click on the confirmation link that we will send you by email. This confirms your application and only then will we receive the application in our system. Please check your emails regularly (including junk mail/spam). We will send you the room offer by email. The offer must be confirmed within 3 days, after which the room will be offered to other students.

Would you rather look for accommodation on the private housing market?

Of course, you can also look for a room privately. However, we would like to point out that it is not very common in Germany to rent a private room or apartment that is furnished. Foreign students often find it difficult to find an apartment if they do not have a good command of the local language and only want to rent something for a short period of time. On the private market, students generally often need their parents' signature or guarantee. For shared apartments, you usually have to apply and participate in shared apartment castings. This means that you often have to be in Mainz in advance to find something privately. You can find more information about private accommodation on the following page: Private Accommodation 

To pay for the washing machines and dryers in the dormitory, you need the StudiwerkMainz App. All important information, such as how to set it up and top it up, can be found on the linked page.

Alternatively, you can also pay with your StudiCard, if you have one.

The current prices for the washing machines and dryers are posted in the laundry room of each dormitory.

The dormitory dictionary can also be downloaded as a PDF file from the website of our umbrella organization, "Deutsches Studierendenwerk" www.studierendenwerke.de:

• German, French & Arabic
• German, Polish & Russian
• German, Spanish & French
• German, English & Chinese

Health dictionary

The same applies to the health dictionary. It gives you a good overview of topics such as health insurance, doctor's visits, and medical certificates.

• Health dictionary German, English