From Hildburg Bruns
The governing Franziska Giffey (44, SPD) defends her idea: If the rent exceeds 30 percent of the household income (net), cash-strapped tenants should be able to ask their landlord for a reduction.
This voluntary commitment, which Giffey is negotiating with associations and real estate giants, is to apply to 1.1 million rental apartments in Berlin. Criticism has come from many quarters: FDP to Left, from the Bundestag to their own coalition.
One of the big concerns: This reduces the chances of success for tenants with low incomes when looking for an apartment, because landlords then prefer to take high earners.
Giffey counters: “The rental price limit is only part of several measures that we are currently discussing. It also includes WBS quotas for new rentals and new builds, so that people with low and middle incomes have a good chance of finding an apartment. We are currently negotiating how high these quotas can be.”
The draft of the agreement, which is available to BZ and is to be signed on June 20, states that large private housing companies undertake to give 25 percent of the apartments that become vacant to tenants with a housing entitlement certificate (WBS) – i.e. every fourth.
It is also being negotiated whether the maximum possible rent increase in Berlin, as the housing market is tight, will be reduced from the current 15 percent to eleven percent in three years from the beginning of 2023. The federal government wants to introduce the new cap later.
