Berlin Skyline

Berlin Skyline
Property Hotspot Berlin

Saturday 15 February 2020

Is Steglitz-Zehlendorf getting their first "Milieuschutzgebiet"

The Berlin Senat and not the local administration has instructed an investigation into rent levels and tenant squeeze out in the districts residential areas. The result was quite surprising.

Bierpinsel, Berlin-Steglitz


The residential area around Schlossstrasse is ranking first place in the district displacement hit-list. In the area between Steglitzer Kreisel, "Bierpinsel" and Paulsenstrasse, the experts attest above-average rising rents, rising purchase prices and an above-average increase in conversions from rented to condominiums.
Both the location, the high proportion of old buildings and the fact that so far only 12.9 percent of the residents have owned their apartment there, threaten to change the structure of this neighbourhood. The previously socially mixed residential area could be a place of residence, especially for high-income couples and families.



Schloßstrasse Berlin-Steglitz

The situation in the planning districts Markelstrasse, Feuerbachstrasse and Mittelstrasse looks similar.

A heated discussion within the local district office which has a different political leaning to the Senat,
has started. A vote to establish a protected area will already provide the protection for the tenants. The implications for property owners are summarized here:
https://germanproperties.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-can-do-and-cant-do-renovating.html

Sunday 9 February 2020

Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has extended the "Milieuschutz" area Hornstrasse

Since January 30, the Hornstrasse preservation area "Milieuschutzgebiet" in Kreuzberg (Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg) also includes the "Riehmers Hofgarten" residential complex between Yorckstrasse and Hagelberger Strasse. According to the district, it is part of Apartment Block 205, to which the conservation statute, i.e. environmental protection, now also applies.

Bild von Karlheinz Pape
Above all, it says that so-called luxury modernizations are prohibited. This includes, for example, the addition of a second hand-basin in the bathroom, but also, and apparently there, with particular attention, the possible merging of smaller apartments into larger ones.

Modernizations to produce a contemporary equipment of the apartments are still permitted as well as energetic renovations, but must be approved in advance. The goal, as in all social protection areas, is to make the currently resident population more secure from being priced out.

The conversion to condominiums cannot be prevented by the Milieuschutz statutes. However, they are subject to strict requirements like selling to sitting tenants only for a set period

The Hornstrasse Conservation Area had already been expanded by several blocks around the Victoria Park in March 2019. According to the district office, there are now almost 8,400 households in this protected area.
The implications for property owners are summarized here:
https://germanproperties.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-can-do-and-cant-do-renovating.html