Personal use?

Own use? We call notices of termination for personal use → request to vacate. Because we tenants have their own needs!

Across Berlin, around 140,000 apartments have been converted into condominiums since 2013. In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg alone, for example, around 48 percent of all residential buildings have been divided into condominiums.
From 2021, the ban on conversions will apply until 2025, and we know from the districts that certificates of completion will continue to be issued diligently. If the conversion ban is not extended, there will be further waves of conversions.

Over the next few years, 100,000 owner-occupier terminations are expected in Berlin.

What does the apartment mean for tenants?

A home is not just four walls, it is the center of life, a shelter and security for the residents.
They have their schools, daycare centers, work, medical care, nursing care, social facilities, leisure activities, relationships and much more in their place of residence. → Every district and every neighborhood is a complex network of social relationships in which residents live and cooperate with each other. The place of residence is therefore not easy and certainly not involuntarily interchangeable.

Berlin is a city of tenants. 85% of households rent their homes.
→ It is unacceptable that privileged people displace tenants. Not everyone can take out a loan and earn accordingly, and not everyone wants to. The extreme inequalities caused by inheritance and family background are obvious.

What does the desire to let out do to tenants?

The possibility of terminating a tenancy for personal use makes housing unsafe for tenants. Regardless of deadlines, this means that city dwellers are losing a vital element of security.
Estate agent and sales viewings already mean a considerable loss of control for tenants. If a notice of termination is served, tenants who have been given notice for their own use are potentially severely affected. The loss of control and the threat to their home can have psychological and physical consequences for those affected. The Initiative Eigenbedarf kennt keine Kündigung (E3K) therefore refers to the desire to terminate a tenancy as bodily harm.

New rentals in familiar surroundings are rarely possible due to rent prices/rent index levels (city policy!) and displacement to distant parts of the city or even homelessness can be the result. In unfamiliar surroundings, those affected experience isolation and impaired access to all essential services.

What does the desire to rent out do to the neighborhood?

In some districts, it is a kind of milieu exchange. The entire neighborhood is always affected when neighborhoods are destroyed by displacement. One consequence is the division into wealthy and poor districts.
This can be compounded by social neglect in the affected districts, as the social context and mix (income, age, diversity) can be lost. Whether the terminating tenants move in themselves, new tenants or tourists use the apartment at new prices for their own use is irrelevant to this effect.

The fact that owners make decisions at owners’ meetings that affect the entire building (often including tenants) is in stark contrast to the current democratic role of tenants. This imbalance is often reflected in how the parties see themselves.

Apart from all these factors that undermine city life, unaffordable new lettings, vacation and second homes, i.e. the deprivation of necessary living space, are the direct consequence of owner-occupier terminations.

In short, terminations for personal use are socially undermining the city!

How can those affected defend themselves?

To ensure that evictions and, in particular, termination for personal use are outlawed and abolished in future, tenants must defend their right to a dignified life in a militant and publicly visible manner . (more information in the brochure)
Resistant behavior also deters abuse – it is estimated that at least 50 % of personal requirements are pretextual personal requirements, for example in the case of expiring social ties in Prenzlauer Berg.

→ The number of lawsuits won against “personal use terminations” is steadily increasing.

The motives of owners and the legitimacy of the termination must always be questioned and scrutinized. There are valuable tools that can be made available to those affected. Please contact the working group for the district in question.

Any legal leeway should also be checked. Sometimes a second opinion is helpful → here you can find open consultations: Advice for tenants. It is advisable to join a tenants’ association or tenants’ association at least 3 / 1 months before giving notice. As more than just one apartment in the building is often affected, we always recommend networking!

For example, an owner* is not necessarily welcome in a house if he has displaced the longstanding tenant. You can let them know that.

We provide advice and support. At the same time, it is important that neighborhoods also become aware of this and show solidarity in defending their neighbors from displacement.

Political demands

→ These problems are not individual problems. They are caused by political decisions and there are hardly any approaches to solving them on the part of city and federal politicians. → A whole wave of 100,000 owner-occupier terminations is rolling towards Berlin alone in the next few years and is hardly on the radar of party politics.

In addition, rental policy issues are blocked at federal level. The high proportion of tenants is not represented at all.
It is therefore also up to the neighbourhoods to deligitimize the practice and defend their neighbors. We would like to see an attitude of solidarity in the neighborhoods and are working to raise awareness of such violent displacement processes.

Living space should not be a commodity!