Post by High Priestess on Sept 28, 2015 5:17:38 GMT
Nathan shared in 2013:
Berlin local governement plans to bann short-term rentals
In Berlin, the renting of private living space as a holiday apartment has
become a contentious issue.
1.
In
reference to Berlin:
At the present time there is no law in Berlin that restricts or prohibits
temporary renting of living space to travelers and tourists. However, the Senator
for Urban Development Michael Müller (SPD) has introduced a draft bill to the
Berlin House of Representatives to prohibit the misuse of apartments.
Should this draft become law the legislation would intervene in cases where
formally a shortage of housing has been determined which would subsequently apply
to the central districts of Berlin. It will be necessary to specifically define
the criteria which would amount to a misuse of housing. Until now the
judicature on misuse of apartments is not uniform. In the draft bill there is a
grandfathering clause of two years for living space that is already being used
as a holiday apartment. After 2 years will follow a bann for short-term rentals in the central districts.
The acute shortage of housing in central parts of Berlin is not linked to the
holiday apartment market but is more down to the misguided housing policy, which
is still going on and short-term rentals became the ideal scapegoat before the September elections.
Müller himself said in an Interview with RBB (state regional TV channel) that by mid this
year the legal framework should have been established which would offer the
basis for formulating the regulation and determine the scope for each
individual district. Of course there would still be the possibility of taking
legal action against the new law or the subsequently created regulations.
2. Impact for individual Berlin districts:
In reference to the social preservation statute (residential milieu protection)
according to § 172 Baugesetzbuch (German Building Code) a regulation has come
into effect at the beginning of January 2013 for parts of Pankow which
prohibits operating holiday apartments. Some of the arguments include the
development of rental prices over the last years. They put it partly down to
the “luxury re-developments” in the district but also the use of housing for commercial
purposes like holiday accommodation is seen as a contributive factor.
In the regulations of the district
authority Pankow it is
stated that “the commercial provision of housing for residential purposes
within a period of 28 days (for example holiday apartments) amounts to a change
of use according to the preservation regulations and subsequently cannot be
approved”. Though this is disputed.
Nevertheless, other districts are seeking to follow the example that Pankow has
set. The district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg also wants to issue a decree for the
so called preservation areas (including places such as Chamissoplatz,
Boxhagener Platz, Graefestraße and Luisenstadt). Presently there is no
information on the possible implementation.
One thing is clear though that housing shortage is going to be one of the
campaign issues during the parliamentary elections for the Bundestag in 2013.
Based on past experience politicians will make use of any opportunity to move
this on to the agenda seeking to gain some kind of traction from it. While
doing so it appears that it is really not of importance if the suggested
measure can actually be beneficial or not.
Only together we will be able to show that the statutory restriction of short
term renting of living space which politicians are proposing will actually not
change anything in respect to the actual causes of price increases within the
housing market (housing policy, low interest rates, attractive districts) .
Berlin local governement plans to bann short-term rentals
In Berlin, the renting of private living space as a holiday apartment has
become a contentious issue.
1.
In
reference to Berlin:
At the present time there is no law in Berlin that restricts or prohibits
temporary renting of living space to travelers and tourists. However, the Senator
for Urban Development Michael Müller (SPD) has introduced a draft bill to the
Berlin House of Representatives to prohibit the misuse of apartments.
Should this draft become law the legislation would intervene in cases where
formally a shortage of housing has been determined which would subsequently apply
to the central districts of Berlin. It will be necessary to specifically define
the criteria which would amount to a misuse of housing. Until now the
judicature on misuse of apartments is not uniform. In the draft bill there is a
grandfathering clause of two years for living space that is already being used
as a holiday apartment. After 2 years will follow a bann for short-term rentals in the central districts.
The acute shortage of housing in central parts of Berlin is not linked to the
holiday apartment market but is more down to the misguided housing policy, which
is still going on and short-term rentals became the ideal scapegoat before the September elections.
Müller himself said in an Interview with RBB (state regional TV channel) that by mid this
year the legal framework should have been established which would offer the
basis for formulating the regulation and determine the scope for each
individual district. Of course there would still be the possibility of taking
legal action against the new law or the subsequently created regulations.
2. Impact for individual Berlin districts:
In reference to the social preservation statute (residential milieu protection)
according to § 172 Baugesetzbuch (German Building Code) a regulation has come
into effect at the beginning of January 2013 for parts of Pankow which
prohibits operating holiday apartments. Some of the arguments include the
development of rental prices over the last years. They put it partly down to
the “luxury re-developments” in the district but also the use of housing for commercial
purposes like holiday accommodation is seen as a contributive factor.
In the regulations of the district
authority Pankow it is
stated that “the commercial provision of housing for residential purposes
within a period of 28 days (for example holiday apartments) amounts to a change
of use according to the preservation regulations and subsequently cannot be
approved”. Though this is disputed.
Nevertheless, other districts are seeking to follow the example that Pankow has
set. The district Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg also wants to issue a decree for the
so called preservation areas (including places such as Chamissoplatz,
Boxhagener Platz, Graefestraße and Luisenstadt). Presently there is no
information on the possible implementation.
One thing is clear though that housing shortage is going to be one of the
campaign issues during the parliamentary elections for the Bundestag in 2013.
Based on past experience politicians will make use of any opportunity to move
this on to the agenda seeking to gain some kind of traction from it. While
doing so it appears that it is really not of importance if the suggested
measure can actually be beneficial or not.
Only together we will be able to show that the statutory restriction of short
term renting of living space which politicians are proposing will actually not
change anything in respect to the actual causes of price increases within the
housing market (housing policy, low interest rates, attractive districts) .