Advocates call on German government to reign in high-priced, furnished apartments

The Justice Ministry says it will not change rental laws despite the calls.

Transcript

00:00Like many Berliners, Jim Burghauser is on the lookout for a new apartment.

00:06Living on the outskirts of the city means he's traveling an hour and a half to get to his university.

00:12For me it's more that this living arrangement I have now is so far away from everything

00:18and this also makes people kind of lonely because you always need a lot of time to get somewhere.

00:26You don't go somewhere that often and also to university and so much time I lose every day.

00:33Berlin's tenant association says one of the factors making it more difficult to find a long-term home

00:39is the amount of temporary furnished apartments on offer that aren't rent controlled.

00:44Rent prices in Germany aren't allowed to be higher than 10% of the average rent per square meter in an area.

00:50But there are exceptions.

00:52One of them is if the apartment is for temporary use, plus owners are allowed to charge extra if it's furnished.

00:59The association says these apartments can be five times higher than the usual rent prices

01:05and they're taking away supply from people who are looking for unlimited contracts that are rent controlled.

01:12The association is calling on the Ministry of Justice, led by the pro-business Free Democratic Party,

01:18to strengthen tenancy laws.

01:20The association wants owners to be required to show how much the furniture is worth

01:25and how much the apartment itself is being charged for,

01:28arguing this will eventually decrease exorbitant prices.

01:32But the Justice Ministry doesn't want to change the law.

01:35It seems that the FDP, the Free Democratic Party, is only in favor of the landlords

01:43and doesn't do anything in terms of the tenants.

01:46They do not do anything on changes that would regulate the market.

01:52The Justice Ministry told Euronews that it does not see the need to change the law

01:56when it comes to furnished accommodation.

01:58It says that the construction of new apartments will help fight rising rents in the long term.

02:03The FDP parliamentary group says that instead of regulations,

02:07the focus should be on building more quickly and cheaply.

02:10But rising costs and high inflation has led to a crisis in home building.

02:15Germany has one of the highest portions of renters versus owners in Europe,

02:19but it's not the only one battling short-term rentals.

02:22Spain said that it would investigate websites like Airbnb

02:26to check that accommodations have licenses for tourism.

02:30As for Jim, he says he's gotten cynical about finding an apartment

02:34after searching for a year and a half.

02:36You always have this rush of energy.

02:39If you see an apartment you want, you get in contact.

02:42You know they got your message, you got a chance,

02:45you're happy for a moment, you got your hopes up,

02:48and then 99% of the cases, the next day or even a few minutes later

02:53or sometimes weeks later, you get a no, basically.

02:57The construction minister says the government will present a strategy

03:00for people to move to the countryside to deal with the housing shortage.