Nearly Half of Berlin Asking Rents Are Illegally High
A new rent scan conducted by the Berlin Senate in June found 46% of listings were suspiciously high. Landlords now face warning letters — and could see fines up to €50,000.
Thousands of apartment listings have been discovered to be violating Berlin's "rent brake" after the Berlin Senate conducted a scan of apartment listings in June. In fact, it's nearly half of them, or 46%.
The landlords who put up these violating listings will now receive letters, warning them of their infractions. And that's not all: apparently, the government will now be carrying out these scans every month — and sending out letters each time to violating landlords, asking them to review their asking rents and adjust if they're over the legal limit.
Better late than never, the Senate is adopting our proposal for a rent scan.
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