"Habemus Mietendeckel" - this is how the supporters celebrate the latest coup to regulate the Berlin housing market. The opponents, on the other hand, speak of a "return to socialist housing policy".
One thing is clear: when it comes to the rental cover, the Berlin Senate wants to decide this Tuesday, then the positions are about as far apart as the old apartment in Prenzlauer Berg and the prefabricated building in Marzahn. The political project splits the city: tenants against landlords, state government against opposition.
The discussion about rental cover has been a recurring theme ever since the red-red-green Berlin Senate passed its first landmarks this June. But even the coalition of SPD, Left and Greens was for a long time disagree on how the rental cover should look concrete. For example, the city's Senator for Urban Development, Katrin Lompscher, did not only want to ban future rent increases, but also to be able to reduce excessive existing rents. The relationship between income and rent should also play a role. On the other hand, in turn, the SPD, prominently represented by Michael Müller, defended the ruling mayor.
Last Friday, a compromise was finally found. And even if the first draft has been weakened in key points: It remains a radical compromise.
These are the key points of the rent ceiling, to which the coalition has agreed:
- The rents are frozen for five years . From 2022, inflation can be absorbed at 1.3 percent per year.
- Modernizations can be allocated at one euro per square meter - without authorization. For costs not exceeding one euro, there are subsidy programs.
- Landlords are not allowed to re- rent more than before. There will also be a table rental that will take effect if the previous rent was too high. As announced on Monday, the upper limit in the table is 9.80 euros cold per square meter. The year of construction and the equipment of the apartment play a role, but the location of the apartment does not. The basis for this is the rent index for 2013 plus 13.5 percent, which is intended to reflect the general price trend since then. According to the Immowelt portal, the average price is currently 11.60 euros per square meter.
- Low rents can be increased by one euro per square meter on re-letting - but they can not exceed the limit of five euros per square meter.
- Also defined are so-called usurer rents . If the rent is over 120 percent of the table, it is reduced to 120 percent. There are surcharges and deductions for easy, medium and good locations. This applies nine months after the start of the law.
- Responsible for the personnel needed for implementation is the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing.
The bill has already triggered fierce criticism in advance. On Monday, the opponents relented and sent an open letter to members of the Senate. The list of signatories went from the Berlin carpenter guild over the real estate association to the Berliner Volksbank. The rent cover has "massive negative effects" on the economy, but also on the tenants.
The policy must instead start with the causes of rising construction costs. The rental situation will not relax, "the volume of new construction decline, the existing housing not modernized, made no contribution to climate protection and against the background of a probably unconstitutional law," said the authors of the open letter.
The Association of Central Real Estate Committee (ZIA) rejects the compromise found "vehemently" from. Many things are still unclear. "That in the details but a reduction in rents is being considered," will have "sometimes strong impact on landlords," said the ZIA.
Critics fear a black market
It is difficult to predict the consequences of the introduction of the rental cover in Berlin. It is even possible that in the end the Federal Constitutional Court will deal with it.
Ralph Henger from the employers' institute of the German economy (IW) speaks of a "very strong intervention in the property rights". He would advise the Berlin Senate to focus on building new homes. The Mietenteckel protect the tenants, but for seekers, he offers no solution.
In fact, an undesirable consequence of the rent cover could be that tenants do not cancel their existing contracts and even in the case of a move would rather try to sublet their apartments. It could be that they want to come back later.
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Experts see more problems that the Berlin plans could bring. "The landlords have no incentive to keep the apartments in. Then the plaster crumbles from the ceiling and the bathroom looks like hell," says Harald Simons, CEO of the Empirica research and consulting institute.
Landlords would try to put as little money in the apartments, after all, the income was lower. In addition, Simons believes that a kind of black market will form - and therefore the rent will rise often despite Mietendeckel. Finally, both parties have interests: The landlord wants a higher rent and the potential tenant wants the apartment, says Simons. "Where there is a will, there's a thicket."
