Berlin's Mayor Michael Müller sticks to the planned rental cover. On strong criticism of the nationwide unique project, he responded aggressively.
"What we experience, as is speculated with land, is simply indecent," said the SPD politician in a debate in the Berlin House of Representatives. Therefore, politics must act. "I do not want to wait until it's too late." CDU, AfD and FDP warned against "expropriations" and a "relapse into socialist times".
The red-red-green coalition wants to freeze the rents for 1.5 million homes built before 2014 at the level of mid-2019 for five years and set upper limits for new lettings depending on the age and equipment of the apartment. In certain cases, rent reductions should be possible.
The background to this is the housing costs in the capital, which have increased more in recent years than elsewhere in Germany. For months now, the economy and the opposition have been making headway against the rental cover and assume that it is stifling investment in new housing construction and modernization.
Müller wants to regulate the real estate market stronger
"Whether large or small landlord: An apartment is a different investment than a stock package or gold coins," said Müller. "Because the difference is that people live in these apartments, and that's why it's a social good, and that's why it has to be regulated how this social good is handled."
The fundamental question is whether, in a social market economy, the social state must adapt to the market or create rules for the market. He pleads for the latter, so Müller. He did not want to accept unhindered rent increases and land speculation.
Berlin should remain affordable for all. He also accepts that the law will be reviewed by the courts, the mayor said. The alternative to regulatory interventions can not be to buckle in anticipatory obedience, "because there are five critical legal opinions."
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CDU construction specialist Christian Gräff said in the parliamentary debate that the coalition's ultimate goal is to expropriate people. "It's your job to set the mood and keep private companies away from Berlin," he said to the government. Tens of thousands of small landlords who would have invested their money in apartments, would bring to their retirement.
The Left MP Gabriele Gottwald rejected this. "It is completely inappropriate, therefore, to shout the downfall of the West, and we do not plunge landlords into financial distress." The lid is necessary because: "greedy gamblers have taken over significant parts of the housing market, they see the city as prey and abuse their economic power."
FDP faction leader Sebastian Czaja reminded that in the housing policy, instead of "class struggle" consensus, cross-party cooperation and solution competence are needed. Red-red-green poisoned the climate and operate a division of the city. "Anyone who works so politically squanders the final respect for democracy and its representatives, and even supports, as I feel, the direct and indirect enemies of our free and open society."
The Senate had passed its bill on Tuesday. Depending on how long the subsequent deliberations in the House of Representatives last, the rent cover will then be finalized in January or February 2020 and enter into force by March at the latest.
In video: Mietendeckel in Berlin
MIRROR TV
