A digital rent registry is intended to make it easier to identify excessive rents. (Illustrative image)
© dpa
New laws are intended to facilitate housing construction in Berlin and give authorities an overview of rents, which are often excessive, including through a centralized, digital registry of 1.8 million apartments.
The House of Representatives adopted the relevant regulations at its last session before the summer recess.
The background to this is the acute housing shortage and the sharp rise in rents, which often exceed the legal limits. Senator for Urban Development Christian Gaebler (SPD) said of the land registry: "It will now become clear more quickly: Where are those who are violating the law?"
The nation’s first housing and rent registry of this kind is a central component of the Housing Security Act. The database is intended to record all rental apartments, including details such as the address, living space, number of rooms and net rent excluding utilities. Based on this data, authorities should be able to more easily assess whether a rent is higher than permitted. However, the rent registry will not be publicly accessible.
The so-called Omnibus Act amends several existing laws and other regulations. For example, it provides for changes to the building code designed to facilitate the conversion of existing buildings for residential use. These new legislative changes complement the Faster Construction Act, which took effect at the end of 2024 and already included numerous measures to accelerate the preparation and implementation of construction projects.