By Boris Dombrowski
The demands for his resignation because of the Berlin election chaos have not yet died away. The next botch around SPD Senator Andreas Geisel (56) comes to light!
The district court of Neukölln has now declared the rental price brake in Berlin, which has been in force since 2015, to be void. Reason for the court gossip: a banal formality!
Because, contrary to what was required, the judgment failed to make the justification for the regulation easily accessible to the public at the time. The building senator was Andreas Geisel from 2014 to 2016.
“An unforgivable sloppiness,” scolds CDU state and parliamentary group leader Kai Wegner (50). The verdict is “another smack for Andreas Geisel”. The governing Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) must now immediately ensure that the nationwide rental price brake also works in Berlin.
Wegner warns: “If that doesn’t succeed, it means further uncertainty and rising rents for tens of thousands in the city.”
What does Geisel say about the verdict? “The judicial, first-instance decision of the Neukölln district court only applies to the parties involved in the legal dispute and has no general validity,” explains his spokesman when asked by the BZ. “This decision does not have any effect on further tenancies or even the rent index.”
The background to the judgment was a rent dispute between a couple who wanted to lower their rent based on the brake and their property manager.
And how does the Berlin Tenants’ Association assess the judgment of the Neukölln District Court? “It does not mean that all rental contracts concluded since then are invalid,” says Managing Director Ulrike Hamann (47) to BZ
And further: “In this respect I can reassure the Berlin tenants. First of all, the verdict must be confirmed by the regional court at the next instance.”