Buildings are being replaced by new buildings, apartments are being luxuriously refurbished and long-established tenants are being de-let.
Gentrification continues to advance - on behalf of the city, the Humboldt University in Berlin has now investigated how this displacement takes place in Munich.
This can be seen in concrete terms with an example from Maxvorstadt.
Munich - The tenants of Gabelsbergerstrasse 77 are afraid because the property has been sold.
Your new landlord is a real estate GmbH, which is also connected to the controversial real estate projects at Türkenstrasse 52/54.
In Gabelsbergerstrasse 77, the residents are now afraid of becoming “victims of gentrification”, explains Alain L. So far, the rents have been fair, say the residents.
Particularly bizarre: Before the sale, the former owner had to pay a fine because the rent was too low (we reported).
Gabelsbergerstrasse 77: Does Munich make use of the right of first refusal?
The community has grown together over the years.
"I've lived in the property for almost 35 years," says Anneliese L. Another woman has lived in one of the buildings since 1963.
But there is a glimmer of hope.
The buildings with around 40 parties are located in the area of the conservation statutes, which is why the city has a right of first refusal.
The tenants have now asked the city to make use of it.
"This sell-out in every nook and cranny is not what we want for our neighborhood," says the chairman of the district committee, Svenja Jarchow-Pongratz (Greens).
Displacement is not an exclusive problem for Maxvorstadt.
Study investigates: This is how tenants are displaced in Munich
On behalf of the city, the Humboldt University in Berlin has investigated how gentrification works exactly. The results are already available to our newspaper. The study was carried out from February 2020 to March 2021, using the Milbertshofen, Schwabing, Obergiesing and Ramersdorf-Perlach districts as examples. For the investigation, experts and 51 Munich * tenants who are or were affected by displacement were spoken to. Because 13 of them have already moved out. They report on the lousy meshes of the rental sharks.
It seems clear that repression often follows the same pattern. A property is being sold, the new owner wants to renovate, modernize. On the one hand, this leads to a high burden on tenants, for example from dirt and construction noise, and on the other, to higher rents. The announcement of the increase alone already builds up pressure. "They have already calculated for me that I would then have to pay three euros more per square meter," says one participant in the study. “And that would be between 200 and 300 euros for me. Which of course is a big deal. ”Other participants also report on heating failures that have been caused, warnings, attempts at defamation and threats or the replacement of cellar locks. Often tenants assume that when the owner changesthat a termination for personal use could soon flutter into the house. Interviewees report that after such a termination, the apartment was offered again on the Internet a little later, partly for sale, partly for (higher) rent. The roof extension can also lead to displacement. On the one hand, the house is tinkered with for months, and on the other hand there is often a rent increase because elevators had to be installed.
Munich: Study participants report continuous rent increases
Many interviewees also report on it.
that their rent is increased every three years by the maximum possible 15 percent.
The financial pressure is increasing as it is foreseeable that rents will also rise in the future.
One respondent said: “But as I said, where should I go?
Of course I can get an apartment for 1500 or 1800 euros somewhere.
Or for 2000. But I don't have that. "
Tenants are displaced and new, better-paid tenants are moving in.
Or the apartment is used for capital investment and is empty.
The old tenants can usually no longer find cheap apartments in Munich, many have to leave the city.
Renting in Munich: When does the Free State implement new rules?
But what can the city do now?
Often it already makes use of pre-emptive rights, and the construction of cheap apartments is also being promoted.
There is also an amendment to the Building Code, which also provides for a city-wide conversion ban.
In other words, the administration must give its consent to every conversion of rental apartments into condominiums.
For this amendment to take effect, the state government must declare Munich a “municipality with a tight housing market”.
That will be checked, says the Free State.
It is also being examined whether the city should make use of its right of first refusal in the case of Gabelsbergerstrasse 77.
The city council should decide on this in December.
* tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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