© dpa
The so-called protection against termination clause for tenants in former rental apartments that were converted into condominiums will be extended by ten years.
This was decided by the Senate on Tuesday. Owners are thus not allowed to terminate a tenant's lease for ten years after conversion. The ordinance has already been in force since 2013 and would have expired at the end of September without a follow-up regulation.
"The extension of the ordinance means more security for tenants in Berlin," said Senator for Housing Christian Gaebler (SPD). He pointed out that federal law only provides for a three-year period. The Berlin Senate is using an opening clause and fully exploiting its legal options at this point.
In Berlin, many apartments in rental buildings have been converted into condominiums. Between 2011 and 2020 alone, this affected 124,421 apartments, according to the Berlin tenant's association (Mieterverein). In so-called milieu protection areas where the social structure has to be preserved, official approval is required for such conversions. As a result of this and new regulations in the Federal Building Code, the pace of conversions has slowed somewhat in recent years.