Berlin will den Anstieg der Mieten für die nächsten fünf Jahre stoppen

On Tuesday, the Berlin senate voted in favour of a draft bill that will ensure a rent freeze for 5 years in the German capital, if passed. In a bid to reverse soaring rent prices, which mimic similarly dire situations in cities like London and Paris, the city’s executive body has decided to enforce a ban on rent increases. In practice, the bill could offer a radical solution to the housing crisis in the city and beyond — the rental fees of over 1.5 million flats would be capped, with fines of up to €500,000 for regulation violators.

But while many hope that the Berlin bill will act as a starting point for a wider rent cap movement across the country, others have suggested that the city will face institutional obstacles and backlash from property and landlords. Already, Germany’s largest property owners’ association has encouraged its members to raise rents in a pre-emptive strike against the bill. Thankfully for renters, this could be in vain —  if the bill is passed in October it will be enforced retroactively from 18 June to prevent last-minute price manipulations.

While the rent costs in London, which has become something of the poster child for unaffordable housing, have rocketed by 21.7% since 2011, the average rental rates in Berlin have almost doubled in the same period — a symptom of rapid gentrification that has caused outrage among the city’s residents as Berlin’s famously low salaries can no longer keep up with the inflation in living costs.

Renowned as one of Europe’s most affordable capitals and famously dubbed “poor but sexy” by former mayor Klaus Wowereit, the recent steep incline in housing costs has led to multiple protests and campaigns from groups such as Mietenwahnsinn (Rent Madness) to combat the trend. But it seems that the call to arms in the fight for affordable housing has been heard and is finally being acted upon.