Rent register for Berlin: It’s not that easy to find the rip-offs

Berlin is today taking a step that is unusual in Germany. The House of Representatives wants to decide to introduce a rent register to record the data of all rental apartments in the capital: size, location, rooms, address, furnishings, basic rent, additional costs, property tax and much more. Through transparency, the Berlin government wants to reduce excessive rents in what is probably the most broken housing market in the republic and hold criminal landlords accountable. But it won’t be that easy.

A solid data basis on tenancy conditions would undoubtedly be beneficial for the emotional debate in Berlin. So far we’ve been fighting – it’s an election campaign! – mainly at each other. Excessive regulatory rage here, greedy landlords and speculators there, the enemy images change. There is agreement across all parties that we want to combat black sheep among landlords more effectively. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many there are or where they are hiding. The cadastre is intended to make the search easier.