Apply for a certificate of eligibility for housing
You can apply for a Wohnberechtigungsschein (WBS) from your local authority. In Lower Saxony, the districts, independent cities, large independent cities and independent municipalities are responsible for this. You can also obtain the necessary forms there.
The housing entitlement certificate contains information on the entitled persons, compliance with the relevant income limits and the maximum permissible living space.
The certificate of eligibility for housing entitles the holder to move into a subsidized apartment (social housing). There is no legal entitlement to the placement of a corresponding apartment.
The apartment you wish to move into may not exceed the maximum apartment size specified in the WBS.
Some social housing is reserved for a specific group of people. These may be, for example, students, senior citizens (minimum age 60), people with disabilities or large households (at least three children). If you belong to a special group of people, this will also be stated on the certificate of eligibility.
The housing entitlement certificate is usually valid for one year, i.e. you can move into a council apartment within this period. Once the period of validity has expired, you can apply for a new certificate of eligibility. The certificate of eligibility must be handed over to the landlord/landlady when the tenancy agreement is signed.
Who should I contact?
Responsibility lies with the housing and social welfare offices of the administrative districts, the independent cities, the large independent cities and the independent municipalities.
Responsible authorities
Einheitsgemeinde Haselünne, Stadt
Contact
- Haselünne:
- AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Counseling
- Animal enclosure display
- Application for a certificate of no impediment to marriage for German nationals, stateless persons, homeless foreigners or foreign refugees within the meaning of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees with habitual residence in Germany
- Application for approval as a transport company in accordance with the EU Animal Welfare Transport Regulation
- Application for issuance of a German death certificate in case of death abroad
- Apply for a certificate of eligibility for housing
- Apply for a death certificate
- Apply for a permit to supply / dispense certain hazardous substances and mixtures in accordance with ChemVerbotsV
- Apply for a resident parking permit
- Apply for an identity card for German citizens with permanent residence abroad
- Apply for blindness benefit
- Apply for care assistance
- Apply for certificate of seclusion according to the Condominium Act
- Apply for infection protection instruction including certificate
- Apply for integration assistance for adults with disabilities, minors with physical or mental disabilities or sensory impairments
- Assistance for subsistence: granting
- Assistance in other situations Authorisation
- Authorisation for exemptions from the Highway Code: granting
- Authorisation for the non-commercial handling and acquisition of explosive substances Granting
- Basic provision in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity (social assistance)
- Bird flu
- Birth certificate issuance
- Birth registers
- Broadband coverage
- Building file archive
- Building permit issuance in the simplified building permit procedure
- Bulky waste disposal by collection
- Bulky waste disposal by personal delivery
- Calculating and setting the wastewater levy
- Car towed - municipal information
- Carcasses and animal by-products: disposal
- Change to the church tax deduction when joining the church
- Change to the church tax deduction when leaving the church
- Children's Passport Extension
- Children's Passport Status Query
- Children's passport notification due to relocation
- Church admission: Declaration
- Citizens' consultation hours
- Citizenship card: Issuance
- Commercial properties
- Community licence for the international and national carriage of passengers by coach and bus: issue
- Confirmation of registration issuance
- Damage to roads and bridges: Notification
- Data protection in municipalities
- Disaster prevention
- Documents and copies: Certification
- Dog ownership deregistration
- Driver's license issue new due to name change
- Driving licence: Extension - driving licence of categories C and D
- Driving licence: issued - on trial
- Early Aid Offer
- Earth excavation display for wells
- Electronic proof of identity blocking
- Electronic residence permit issue
- Enrollment of a child in elementary school
- Establishment of a civil partnership Notarisation
- Event: Display
- Events in public transport areas: Permission
- Exchange old driver's license for a new one
- Exemption for the use of floodplains: granted
- Exemption from the driving ban on Sundays and public holidays: Authorisation
- Explosive ordnance: elimination
- Extend registration of prostitution activities
- Family book: Exhibition
- Family name change
- Firearms license
- Foster children
- GIS - Geographical Information System
- Game Warden Confirmation
- Garden waste disposal
- Guardianship Institution
- Guardianship law
- Handling of water-polluting substances Display
- Help for pregnant women
- House number: Fixing
- Household waste disposal
- Hunting lease: Advertisement
- Hunting license: exhibition
- Information blocking device
- Information in the population register Granting to landlords
- Intended for deletion - marriage consummation with custodial partner
- Intended for deletion - marriage consummation with divorced or widowed partner
- Interference with nature and landscape: authorisation
- Keeping dangerous dogs Permission
- Keeping of farm animals - display
- Land use plan
- Landscape and green space plans
- Lost property
- Manufacture, authorization, supply and import of veterinary medicinal products: information provided
- Markets and festivals
- Marriage consummation only for German citizens
- Marriage consummation with foreign partner
- Medical Service / Youth Medical Service
- Municipal sports facilities
- Naturalization: Approval - for foreigners entitled to naturalization
- Notification of suspected money laundering or terrorist financing
- Obligations of waste disposal and recovery companies
- Operation Prostitution Business Permit
- Operation of a shooting range in enclosed spaces: display
- Organ donation
- Organization or execution of prostitution events Permit
- Parenting, marriage, family and life counselling
- Parking barrier for a move: Facility
- Passport Issuance of additional passports
- Passport issuance
- Passport issuance new due to change of name upon marriage or establishment of a civil partnership
- Passport issuance new due to change of other data
- Passport issuance provisionally
- Passport message for retrieval
- Passport status query
- Pay trade tax
- Permit-free construction measures Notification
- Permits and exceptions to excessive road use: granting
- Planning approval
- Playgrounds: Maintenance
- Population register information Provision of self-disclosure
- Possession of poliovirus display
- Preservation of Historical Monuments
- Process-free construction measures
- Protection of children and adolescents
- Providing a prostitution vehicle permit
- Provision of information from the population register for commercial purposes
- Psychiatric institution (closed) - Accommodation
- Recognition of paternity
- Register at the secondary school
- Register burial
- Register marriage
- Registration for the transportation of animal by-products
- Report significant changes for housing benefit such as number of household members, rent, charges or income
- Reporting the loss of your own ID card
- Representation permit for a prostitution business Permit
- Residence Re-registration Change of status
- Residence Registration as main residence
- Road signs and traffic facilities: modification
- School enrolment examination
- School excursions, school trips and comparable trips from day-care centres: reimbursement of costs
- School travel costs
- School trips, school trips and comparable trips by day-care centres: reimbursement - of costs according to the Federal Child Benefit Act
- Second home tax exemption
- Self-help groups
- Senior citizens' and nursing homes in Lower Saxony
- Shelter (children, adolescents and young adults)
- Show traveling trade or activity exempt from travel trade card
- Show use of biocides
- Special obligation to register in accommodation establishments Registration
- Store opening hours
- Studying in Lower Saxony
- Tax Life Certificate: Issuance
- Temporary authorisation for road passenger transport: grant
- Traditional bonfire (Easter fire)
- Transmission blocks in the registration register
- Undeclared work notification
- Vacation
- Vaccination: Advice
- Vegetable waste disposal by incineration
- Voluntary Social Year
- Voluntary work Appointment as a youth alderman
- Waste paper: disposal
- Water Supervision
- Water permit for the abstraction of groundwater: Granting
- Advertisement of non-profit and commercial waste collections
- Ambulance transport
- Animal Event Permit
- Application for exemption from presentation of the certificate of marriageability for foreign nationals.
- Apply for a simple certificate of good conduct
- Applying for a permit under immission control law for the construction and operation of systems
- Applying for an increase in housing benefit
- Assistance for the elderly
- Avoidance, recycling and disposal of waste Consulting
- Badge of honor of the country
- Building encumbrances: Entry - in the register of building encumbrances
- Building permit issuance
- Burial place: Permit - to create/expand
- Cancel display
- Care and care of children and adolescents in emergency situations
- Carrying out collections Provision of information
- Change of use of buildings Approval
- Childcare services for seniors
- Children's Passport Issue
- Children's passport notification due to loss
- Chimney sweep
- Compensatory and substitute measures for nature conservation
- Confirmation of development
- Construction site: Issuance of construction site orders under traffic law
- Construction supervision
- Conveyance
- Cycling
- Declaration of the right to a name
- Determination of the route of dangerous goods transports: Issue - Determination of individual routes
- Distinction between crafts and non-crafts - consulting
- Dog ownership registration
- Driving licence: transfer - foreign driving licence
- Early intervention for the hearing impaired
- Entitlement to a place in a day-care centre
- Environmental information on contaminated sites and areas suspected of being contaminated sites: Information
- Exemption for compulsory use of seat belts and helmets: Granting
- Exemption for the use of tools between 20:00 and 7:00: issuance
- Express passport issue
- Family holidays: Funding
- Fishing License Exhibition
- Food inspection
- Granting access to building permits for neighbours
- Have address and personal data changed
- Helping the homeless
- Home care
- Housekeeping help
- Housing benefit cancellation/invalidity
- Identity card notification due to retrieval
- Identity card notification due to theft
- Information in the population register Provision of group information
- Licence for the (cross-border) carriage of goods by road for commercial purposes / Community licence
- Local law
- Memorials
- New passport issue due to change of name on divorce or dissolution of civil partnership
- Obtain a certificate for carrying narcotics when traveling abroad
- Out-of-court dispute resolution
- Passport issuance for frequent travelers
- Passport issuance new due to expiry of validity
- Passport issue for minors for the first time
- Passport report for theft
- Pension scheme
- Permit for the extraction of mineral resources: Granting
- Professional drivers - confirm basic qualification
- Protection of animals
- Register home slaughter
- Register of contaminated sites: Information
- Register your child at a secondary school
- Report conclusion of the land lease agreement
- School performance: assessment
- Show installation of a prostitution vehicle
- Signatures: Certification
- Street cleaning
- Towing permit: issue
- Urban land-use planning
- Use of sound amplification systems: granting - exemption
- Violence against women
- Waste disposal
- Waste tyre storage facilities of less than 100 tonnes: approval
- Water law permit for structural installations on water bodies: Granting
- Winter service
- Apply for a subsidy for expenses on a monument
- Apply for war victims' welfare for injured persons
- Assessment of second home tax
- Bathing water quality monitoring
- Certificate of voting rights
- Change of identity card due to change of address
- Children's passport change due to change of address
- Commercial Waste Disposal
- Commuter Portal
- Dementia - Information options
- Direct discharge of rainwater: permission
- Disturbance of street lighting: message
- Driving licence: Issuance - International driving licence
- Driving license: Issue - Passenger transport
- Environmental impact assessment
- Exemption from the observance of the night's rest for events: granting
- Flood protection
- Gun ownership card: issuance - for sport shooters
- Health advice for prostitutes
- Hunting permit: notification
- Immission control: Inspection - due to impairment
- Medical officer
- Notification period of an auction: shortening
- Nursing homes, forms of assisted living, outpatient assisted living communities: Obligation to notify - Operation
- Outdoor Advertising: Approval
- Parking permit
- Passport change due to change of place of residence
- Passport issuance
- Passport issuance for adults for the first time
- Passport notification due to loss
- Petrol stations Advertisement Commissioning: Limitation of the release of fuel vapours
- Public holidays: approval - of exceptions to the general rest period
- Resident certificate issuance
- School trips, school trips and comparable trips of day-care centres: reimbursement - of costs according to SGB II
- Special reporting obligation in hospitals, homes and similar institutions Registration
- Tuberculosis counselling
- Veterinary affairs
- Volunteering
- property tax assessment received
- Addiction counselling
- Apply for a new ID card when it expires
- Apply for a tree felling permit for municipally protected trees
- Apply for certificates of origin and other certifications required for foreign trade from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Assistance to overcome particular social difficulties
- Biowaste disposal
- Carrying out school dental check-ups
- Certificate of competence for keeping chickens for fattening
- Children's passport report for theft
- Citizens' advice
- Commercial livestock trade: Advertisement
- Commercial road haulage - Apply for a permit
- Confirmation of landlord
- Construction of a small sewage treatment plant: Advertisement
- Day care
- Dog tax assessment
- Driving license: Extension
- Extending the validity of a resident parking permit
- Identity card status query
- Improvement of regional economic structure Support
- Legal biotope protection
- Life certificate for submission to the pension insurance: Issue
- Nature conservation area: Determination
- Organization or implementation of prostitution events Advertisement
- Permission to drive in protected landscape areas: Issuance
- Permission to operate a prostitution establishment
- Permit and exemption for large-capacity and heavy goods traffic: issue
- Preliminary building inquiry and preliminary building permit
- Private trips abroad with pets (dogs, cats, ferrets)
- Recovery of maintenance
- Register prostitution activity for the first time
- Residence Registration as secondary residence
- School trips, school trips and comparable trips of day-care centres: reimbursement - of costs according to SGB XII
- Setting a waste fee
- Voluntary work Appointment as alderman
- Welfare
- Zoo: Approval
Requirements
- German or EU nationality
- Other nationality with a residence permit usually valid for at least one year, or individual case decision
- Age of majority (or consent of the legal guardian/legal guardian)
- Households whose qualifying income does not exceed the income limit. Compliance with the income limit depends primarily on the number of people in the household and the income of all household members. The calculation is generally based on the gross annual income of all persons living in the household for the previous calendar year. In addition, there are exemptions and deductions, for example for people with a recognized severe disability/recognized degree of care.
- One of the requirements is that you are not only staying in the Federal Republic of Germany temporarily, but that you have or want to establish your center of life here. The center of your life is the place where you settle permanently, voluntarily, alone or with your family.
Applications / forms
Forms available: Yes
Personal appearance required: No
Please contact the local authority to which you are applying to find out whether it is possible to apply online.
Which documents are required?
For written applications
- Identity card for German citizens and nationals from the European Community (ID card)
- Passport for foreign citizens with a residence permit valid for at least one year
In addition:
- Declaration of income from each member of the household who has their own income
- Depending on the income earned, appropriate proof must be submitted. This can be, for example
- Pay slips from the previous year
- Pay slips for the last 12 months
- Annual income tax statement for the previous year
- Income tax assessment of the previous year
Depending on your personal situation, further documents may also be required:
For example:
- Certificate of disability (e.g. for severely disabled people)
- Certificate of enrollment (e.g. for students)
- BAföGBescheide (for recipients of educational grants)
- Pension certificate (e.g. for pensioners)
- Proof of benefits from the job center (e.g. for the unemployed)
This list is not exhaustive.
Depending on the case, the administrative staff may require additional documents. If this is the case, you will be contacted immediately.
What are the fees?
The fee for the decision on the application for a residence entitlement certificate is between EUR 18 and EUR 40.
Process flow
You can apply for a certificate of eligibility for housing:
- If you need advice, you can have a personal or telephone consultation with an employee of your local authority before submitting your application.
- To apply, fill out the application form digitally or on paper and attach the required documents.
- Your application will be checked by the staff at your competent authority. If necessary, you will be asked to answer questions.
- After the check, you will receive feedback as to whether or not you are entitled to a housing entitlement certificate. If yes, you will be issued with the certificate of eligibility.
Processing duration
Cannot be specified exactly, as the period varies depending on the municipality, the scope and content of the application and the documents to be checked. Final processing can only take place once all the necessary documents have been submitted.
What else should I know?
False information can be prosecuted and punished as false certification or fraud. A residence entitlement certificate issued can be revoked if it was issued on the basis of incomplete or incorrect information.
Appeal
An appeal can be lodged against the authority's decision. Further information can be found in the notice/ certificate of eligibility for housing.