Frankfurt The Berlin initiative “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.” is expecting a legal dispute over the controversial vote for the association of apartments of large real estate groups. “In the end, the courts will decide,” said Rouzbeh Taheri, spokesman for the initiative, in a debate on the Handelsblatt Today podcast on Wednesday. “Of course we know that every law that is passed can be stopped by the courts – in the end by the Federal Constitutional Court. But we want to pursue this goal. “
A few days ago, in a referendum organized by the “Deutsche Wohnen & Co expropriate” initiative, Berliners voted in favor of the socialization of housing groups. However, lawyers are of the opinion that the goals of the referendum cannot be incorporated into a law in a constitutional manner.
“The result will be that the whole thing is not in conformity with the constitution,” said constitutional lawyer Ulrich Battis, who prepared an expert report on the subject for a business-related association, in a dispute with the expropriated campaign in the Handelsblatt. “And then the announcement ends.” The Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Association also considers expropriations to be the wrong approach. But there are also a number of voices from lawyers who consider socialization to be possible in principle.
In April of this year, the Federal Constitutional Court had already rejected the Berlin rent cap as unconstitutional. The judges decided that the country was not entitled to take a special route.
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The “Initiative Deutsche Wohnen & Co. expropriate” made it clear that it would call for protests if the new Berlin Senate does not implement the decision of the referendum on expropriation.
The SPD and the Greens want to respect the will of the population
The people as sovereigns have given the government an order. If the government does not fulfill this mandate, the population must protest against it. “The government needs to know that if they ignore the will of the people they will get a problem in the next election,” Taheri said. But the pressure of the population could not override a constitution, Battis countered.
SPD top candidate Franziska Giffey announced earlier this week that she would respect the will of the population. “Such a draft law must now also be drawn up. But this draft has to be checked constitutionally, ”she said.
Giffey had always spoken out against expropriation during the election campaign. The Green top candidate Bettina Jarasch also called on Monday to take the result seriously. “That belongs in coalition negotiations,” said Jarasch a few days ago.
But she also limited: Politicians must check whether an implementation of the citizens’ vote for expropriations is feasible. “There are still many legal and practical questions to be clarified for such a law.” However, the referendum is not legally binding for the future Berlin government.
56.4 percent of voters in Berlin voted for socialization on Sunday, 39.0 percent against. According to the text of the resolution, the Senate is now called upon to “initiate all measures” that are necessary for the transfer of real estate into common ownership and to draft a law for this purpose.
Estimates of costs vary widely
Specifically, the project, which is so far unique in Germany, concerns companies with more than 3,000 apartments in Berlin, provided they have an “intention to make a profit”. These are to be socialized, i.e. expropriated against compensation and transferred to an institution under public law. Around 240,000 apartments would be affected, around 15 percent of Berlin’s rental housing stock.
In an estimate from September 2020, the Berlin Senate assumes compensation costs of 29 to 39 billion euros. He assumes that the traditionally clammy state of Berlin would have to subsidize around six to nine billion euros for loan financing from the state budget.
In contrast, the initiative emphasizes that the corporations do not have to be fully compensated and, according to earlier information, assumes costs of only around ten billion euros. “Berlin’s housing problem cannot be solved by expropriations, but only through joint efforts to create more living space,” said the Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Association. “To do this, everyone has to pull together.” The association brought an “alliance for new buildings and living” into play.
More: Berlin vote for real estate expropriation: so it goes on now