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Apartments in Berlin (symbol picture): Rents frozen for around 1.5 million apartments
Photo:
Christoph Soeder / picture alliance / dpa
Since the second phase of the Rent Cap Act came into force, excessive rents have been banned in the capital and must be reduced.
In Berlin, tenants have since approached the Senate Administration in almost 900 cases about excessive rents.
»The rent cap is a clear stop signal against rising rents.
With the second stage coming into effect on November 23rd, excessive rents must now also be reduced to a socially acceptable level, ”said Sebastian Scheel, Senator for Urban Development and Housing.
The left-wing politician said: "We expect that around 340,000 households in Berlin will benefit from it." Berlin tenants can use a calculator to determine whether their rent is possibly too high.
The controversial rent cover law in Berlin has been in effect since February 23.
Rents for around 1.5 million apartments are frozen at the June 2019 level until 2025.
They may only increase by a maximum of 1.3 percent annually from 2022.
If an apartment is rented out again, the landlord must adhere to upper limits and the last rent demanded.
Since November 23, excessive rents have also had to be reduced.
Administration wants to hire 20 more employees
Scheel evaluates the hundreds of advertisements as an indication that the majority of landlords are behaving in accordance with the law and are lowering rents in accordance with the law.
According to the administration, the vast majority of cases are now being processed.
According to this, 29 employees currently work in the responsible department of the Senate Administration, 18 of them in the area of lowering.
So far there has been no processing backlog.
However, it is planned to hire around 20 more employees in this area in the spring.
The number of posts is significantly lower than originally planned.
Initially, the Rent Cover Act provided for an application procedure by tenants.
That was changed during the legislative process.
On the initiative of the Berlin CDU and FDP, the Federal Constitutional Court is to check in 2021 whether the rent cap is legal.
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apr / dpa
