Berlin real estate crisis: they vote if 240,000 homes are expropriated

Next Sunday, September 26, the citizens of Berlin should vote not only in the General elections whose successor to Angela Merkel, but also a referendum to determine whether the authorities of the capital should expropriate 240,000 housing units to transform them into public property, as part of the real estate crisis.

In view of the general elections, in which the members of the Bundestag (Parliament), the next mayor of Berlin and the representatives of the 12 districts of the German capital will be elected, it will be decided in turn whether the government should buy these houses from the big landowners. , in a country where more than half of the population lives for rent and in particular Berlin, where the 80% of citizens rent.

It should be noted that over the past five years the real estate crisis in Berlin has worsened deeply, in one of the cities that was considered one of the cheapest to live in. The prices increased by 43% and for low- and middle-income residents, it has become increasingly difficult to rent in downtown areas.

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For their part, the tenants blame large real estate companies to make a profit by increasing rents, buying space to set up their head office and reducing the maintenance of their properties. However, there are those who support the referendum and those who consider that a law of this nature “would be subject to various legal remedies”.

Those who want the Berlin Senate to propose a law allowing the purchase of what they call “private” real estate companies (with more than 3,000 homes) argue that it would be compatible with the German Constitution under the German Constitution. ‘Article 15, which stipulates that “the land, the natural resources and the means of production may be placed under a regime of collective property or other forms of collective management by a law which fixes the mode and the amount of the compensation. “.

Faced with this, they assure that companies would be compensated at a price “well below market value”, according to local media German wave.

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On the contrary, some jurists believe that if the Berlin Senate approved this initiative, it would be subject to various legal remedies. Jakob Hans Hien, a lawyer for Knathe, one of the capital’s leading real estate companies, explained that an expropriation law would not apply in Berlin and said the goal of targeting only companies or individuals with 3,000 or more properties has no legal basis.

He also stressed that “compensation” well below market value “would be unconstitutional” because “companies would not only be deprived of their assets, but would also suffer direct economic damage”.

Meanwhile, last Wednesday, in order to intervene on rental prices, Berlin bought the main real estate companies, Deutsche Wohnen y Vonovia, 14,750 housing units and 450 premises for 2,500 million euros (nearly 3,000 million dollars). These properties will be distributed among the city’s social housing companies, along with the other 6,000 social houses that were purchased in 2019 from Ado Properties.

Ultimately, this vote will lead to a heated political debate on the rise in rents and a rise in tensions between the parties, given that the the proposal divides the coalition which governs the capital: the far left party La Izquierda, strongly supports it; the Greens have given mixed signals, while the Social Democratic Party rejects it, as have the main opposition parties.

CFT / ED