Real Estate

The Federal Constitutional Court said that a policy to freeze rents in Berlin for the next five years to combat soaring living costs was unlawful in a ruling published on Thursday morning.

The capital’s “Mietendeckel” law or rent cap “violates the Basic Law and is thus ruled void”, the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said in a blow to millions of tenants.

Berlin districts have imposed fines in the millions against providers of unauthorised holiday flats since 2018. In seven districts of the capital alone, the sum amounted to 3.4 million euros, according to a survey by the news agency dpa among the twelve district offices, nine of which responded. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg holds the largest share.

Anyone who wants to rent out their flat as a holiday home has needed a permit for this in Berlin since 2014. The corresponding law was tightened by the Senate in 2018. Since then, even those providers who only want to sublet a room to tourists need at least a registration number. They need a further permit if the room is at least half the size of the entire flat.

The late Michael Jackson's home, formerly known as Neverland Ranch, has been purchased by Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle for $22 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. The property was initially listed for sale at $100 million in 2014 but has failed to find a buyer for years.

The Norwegian billionaire and adventurer Ivar Tollefsen enters the Berlin market for residential real estate through the Swedish housing group Heimstaden Bostad, which he controls. For approximately €830 million he will buy 3902 apartments in central situations of Berlin, according to Heimastaden Bostad.

According to the company, the rental space totals 282,000 square meters. This means that these are smaller apartments and stores with an average floor area of just under 67 square meters.

Protest against the project has already been organized in some apartment buildings. The Berlin district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has stated that they are examining the possiblity of a exercising a pre-emptive right of purchase.

The Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that all rent payments as well as interest payments on capital and loans are going to be suspended until September. In addition to this he guaranteed all workers their wages, which the state will pay for small and mid sized companies. In addition to this lay-offs that are the consequence of the coronavirus have been banned.