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Linke demands drastic measures against rental usury in Berlin!
In Berlin, the left demands 2025 measures against rental users, including a task force to combat rental crime.
Linke demands drastic measures against rental usury in Berlin!
DIE LINKE in Berlin recently demanded extensive measures to take action against rental usury, illegal holiday apartments and furnished short -term living. As reports [RBB24], the party suggests the establishment of a "task force" with 100 places to effectively combat rental crime. "We cannot continue to watch, while tenants suffer from the pressure of excessive rent," said a spokesman.
The situation is serious with over 3,000 reports of rental price increases and more than 50,000 suspected cases that have been registered since November 2024. Nevertheless, there is only one personnel office according to [DIE LINKE] that pursues rental usury. The construction and housing supervisory authorities and the housing offices are heavily overloaded, and the previous announcements for the prohibition of furnished short-term rentals in milieu protection areas remained largely without consequences.
Left demands to combat the problems
The left therefore calls for the creation of a priority prosecutor's office for rental crime in order to act more effectively against the perpetrators. In addition, tenants in all districts should be given the opportunity to use advice on rental prices. In order to counteract the shortage of housing, the party also advocates the return to the socialization of housing companies and the expropriation of empty "ghost houses", whereby trustworthers are to be used to restore usability.
According to [RBB24], the rental price test center of the Senate was founded in March 2025. In the second quarter of the year, 95 rental contracts were checked, of which 93 inadmissible exceeding the local comparison rent had. It is particularly alarming that there is suspicion of rental price uses in 61 cases, this means a rent requirement of at least 50 percent above the usual comparison rent.
A comprehensive approach to rental crime
In order to structurally counteract the problem, the Housing Task Force is to be supported with 100 staff positions in the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing. This will not only track rent increases and illegal holiday apartments, but also use digital tools to identify illegal holiday apartments. In suspected cases that prove a significant rent increase, the procedures are carried out uniformly and forwarded to the public prosecutor's office.
The planned establishment of a socialization authority is encouraging, which will coordinate the implementation of the referendum to socialize large housing companies. This authority will take over the collection and evaluation of affected housing companies and implement measures to reactivate ghost houses and to combat speculative vacancy. In addition, the "electricity meter method" for determining illegal vacancies is to be introduced in order to relieve the housing market.