Prohibition of holiday apartments in Berlin: Court strengthens tenant protection!

Prohibition of holiday apartments in Berlin: Court strengthens tenant protection!

In a trend -setting judgment, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled that the use of apartments in Wilhelmstrasse is not permitted as holiday apartments. District Mayor Stefanie Remlinger was encouraging and emphasized the importance of this decision in the fight against the misuse of living space. The judgment is based on an earlier decision by the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court of September 28, 2023, which also allows existing holiday apartments that were operated before the misuse law came into force. This information was published in the [press release of the Middle District] (https://www.berlin.de/ba-mitte/aktuelles/Pressemaytreungen/2025/Pressemage division.1602349.php).

The current decision is not yet final. It confirms the attitude of the Mitte district, which is increasingly against the illegal use of living space. In this decision, Remlinger sees an important step towards returning holiday apartments to the regular housing market. There are now around 1,100 apartments in Berlin, which can be returned to the housing market by the offices, of which around 300 have already been attributed to the districts of Mitte and Tempelhof-Schöneberg, such as rbb24 reported.

Current situation on the housing market

The Berlin housing market is tense, which particularly urges the need for regulations to use living space. Since 2016, more than 13,500 procedures have been initiated in Berlin due to unauthorized use of holiday apartments. This shows the challenge of maintaining appropriate living space and at the same time preventing black market activities. Over 8,100 holiday apartments were re -brought to the regular housing market at pressure from the offices, which could have a positive impact on the availability of offers.

In order to regulate the holiday apartment mediation, landlord has had to apply for a registration number to the responsible district office since a change in the law in 2018 if you want to pass on your apartment in part or completely to third parties. This also applies to the renting of secondary apartments as a holiday apartment, which is usually limited to a maximum of 90 days a year. No approval is required when renting up to 49 percent of the apartment, but a registration number must be requested, as confirmed by the information on the [website of the Senate] (https://www.berlin.de/sen/wahnen/wechtliche/zwecken alienungsbot/).

View into the future

In total, district offices have since imposed fines of around 11 million euros due to violations of the provisions of the misuse. In fact, incriminated fines amount to around 4.2 million euros. The current decisions and measures are intended to help relieve the housing market in Berlin and to ensure that living space is still being rented out at reasonable conditions. The efforts in this topic remain necessary to ensure a sustainable living space in the capital.