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Popular with tenants and landlords: street in Berlin
Photo: Lothar Ferstl / DPA
Nine months after the controversial Berlin rent cap came into force, most landlords appear to be following the regulations.
By the end of October, 1722 violations had been reported to the districts, said urban development senator Sebastian Scheel (left) of the dpa news agency.
To classify: The regulation applies to around 1.5 million apartments.
According to Scheel, 1014 cases were about violations of the ban on increasing existing rents, and 197 cases about exceeding rent limits when re-letting.
Tenants complained 479 times because apartment owners did not comply with the legal obligation to provide information about certain parameters of the apartment.
Based on these criteria - year of construction, equipment and location - the rent ceilings set by the state are measured.
Tightening of the rent cap from Monday
In a current hour, the parliamentary groups in the Berlin House of Representatives have drawn very different interim results.
Representatives of the red-red-green coalition spoke of a successful model in the fight against rising rents.
The opposition, on the other hand, agreed that the lid was the completely wrong way to overcome the housing shortage and to create affordable housing for everyone.
Since February 23, the rents for around 1.5 million apartments have been frozen at the June 2019 level as part of the so far unique law in Germany.
They are allowed to increase by a maximum of 1.3 percent annually from 2022.
If an apartment is rented out again, the landlord must adhere to the upper limits and the last rent demanded.
From Monday, November 23rd, the second stage of the law will come into force: Excessive existing rents are then prohibited by law and must be reduced.
This applies if a rent is more than 20 percent above the upper limits set by the State of Berlin.
Scheel assumes that 340,000 apartments will be affected.
Falling housing supply
"The rent cover not only gives people a respite, it also contributes to social peace," said the green housing expert Katrin Schmidberger in the debate.
On the one hand, he has initiated a trend reversal: In contrast to other large cities, new rental rents have fallen by around ten percent since they came into force.
In addition, the lid takes away the fear of rent increases for many people.
Schmidberger spoke of a “radical emergency brake against rent madness and displacement”.
Critics, on the other hand, warn against the fact that the rent cap could lead to the establishment of a kind of two-class society in Berlin: Existing tenants would primarily benefit, while newcomers would find it increasingly difficult to find an apartment.
Some data seem to support these fears: The number of apartments advertised by landlords in Berlin fell, in some cases considerably, after the introduction of the rent cap.
The housing policy spokesman for the Berlin CDU parliamentary group, Christian Gräff, said: "The fact that tenants on Helene-Weigel-Platz in Marzahn or in the Märkisches Viertel do not benefit from rent reductions, but rents have fallen massively on Kurfürstendamm in the chic old building or on Kollwitzplatz deeply unjust and anti-social. "
The Federal Constitutional Court is expected to decide on the constitutionality of the Berlin rent cap in the second quarter of next year.
Until then, Senator Scheel recommends that tenants put saved rent to one side.
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beb / dpa