The two largest Berlin companies engaged in renting apartments for rent – Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen – opposed the initiative of the nationalization of housing in their property. On the referendum on September 27, citizens supported the expropriation of apartments from Concern-Earls because of the rapidly growing rent, Bloomberg writes.
Although this measure is not legally binding, in the event of its use in public property, about 226 thousand apartments will be transferred, of which 100 thousand belong to the Giant Deutsche Wohnen. The obligation will suffer concerns – Earlings that are leased more than three thousand properties. It is not clear whether the next government will implement a plan after parliamentary elections, as the transfer of apartments in public property can lead to long-term trials and billions of euros. Rangers Vonovia stated that the referendum talks about the need to change the situation on the Berlin housing market, but expropriation will only aggravate the situation. “A not a single new apartment will be built, and the investment in the modernization of [Housing Fund] will stop,” the company says. Deutsche Wohnen stated that it does not expect to implement this idea and that such a step will be unconstitutional.
Candidate of Parliament from the Social Democratic Party of Francis GIFFI stated that the results of the referendum must be respected, but nationalization will not lead to the construction of new apartments and will not solve a wider housing issue. “This is a call to Parliament to prepare a bill and hold a relevant legal assessment,” she said in an interview with the ARD television company. – “We will not be able to do this if it is not constitutional.” The most difficult question is how much power will pay for the transfer of property rights, since supporters of the proposal urge them to reimburse the costs of companies. Opponents argue that the implementation of this measure will entail huge costs – from 29 billion euros ($ 34 billion) to 39 billion euros (45.6 billion dollars), while these funds can be sent to other projects.