- Green demands "license to lease"
The Berlin Green Party faction is calling for the introduction of a "license to rent". This would require larger landlords in the city to meet certain criteria and social standards. "We will present a bill for this in the fall," Green Party faction leader Werner Graf announced in an interview with the German Press Agency. "This will specify exactly what conditions must be met to be allowed to rent in Berlin."
According to the Greens' plans, the Tenancy Law Act would apply to landlords who manage at least 80 or 100 apartments. "We haven't set the exact number yet," Graf said. For these, there would then be guidelines, staggered according to the size of their housing portfolio.
"For example, we're saying that for a portfolio of 1,000 to 3,000 apartments, 15 percent of the units must be social housing," Graf explained. "From 3,001 units upwards, it must be 25 percent. We want to stagger this because, of course, larger companies can also afford more."
Another requirement for the "landlord license", as Graf puts it, would be the obligation to maintain apartments. "We want to ensure that regular funds are invested in maintenance and that this is done sustainably. This is to prevent some landlords from just extracting profits from the buildings and letting them fall into disrepair, which can also lead to tenants being forced out."
The bill would also include regulations for more transparency on the housing market. "We're calling for landlords to have to state the prices at which they rent out their apartments or whether an eviction due to personal use is threatened. A rental and housing registry is long overdue for Berlin."
A rental and housing registry could help to reduce rents, according to Graf. "Unlike the rent index, which only considers rent increases over a certain period, this would include a much larger number of apartments in the calculation. This would also include those with very old, low-rent contracts. This could lower the level of qualified comparative rent, which landlords must use as a benchmark for new rentals."
The Greens propose that a government agency could oversee and enforce these regulations. "In principle, we have been calling for the establishment of a state housing authority for some time, to which landlords would have to report."
Graf calls for more tenant protection
In his view, the current coalition of CDU and SPD is doing nothing to protect people from continually rising housing costs, evictions due to personal use, or the lack of social housing in the long term. "When it comes to tenant protection, black-red is just sitting on its hands and relying on the market or federal action. But here, in my opinion, there must be real efforts to protect tenants in Berlin again," said the faction leader.
Crucial is that measures are legally binding. "For we see, one cannot rely on all these declarations of intent within the framework of the voluntary, non-binding housing alliance. It was doomed to fail from the start." The alliance between the Senate, housing associations, and landlords is only there "so that one can post a couple of nice photos on Instagram," Graf said. "But the people of Berlin don't need nice Instagram photos, they need affordable housing."
Recently, it became known that Vonovia, the largest private landlord in Berlin, has sent out thousands of rent increases. The company is exploiting the legal possibility of increasing rent by 15 percent within three years. However, in the 2022-founded Berlin Housing Alliance, an agreement had been reached on a so-called cap of 11 percent over three years.
"Red-Black simply leaves Berlin tenants to the mercy of the market. And sets no rules," Graf said. "That's wrong. Like in many other areas, we want rules here too. And for most professions, I need training. Anyone who wants to open a hairdressing salon today needs a master's certificate. Only renting out can be done completely without rules. That can't go on like this."
In alignment with their plans, the Berlin Green Party proposes the inclusion of a 'licence to rent' requirement for larger landlords, as announced by Werner Graf. This licence would obligate these landlords to meet certain standards, including investing in regular apartment maintenance and providing a certain percentage of social housing.
Should the 'licence to rent' bill be passed, it would mandate larger landlords to adhere to strict guidelines, ensuring they uphold their maintenance obligations and provide an appropriate percentage of social housing based on the size of their housing portfolio.
