Germany’s housing crisis: Loopholes for landlords | DW News

19.5% increase of rent for a student dorm in Deggendorf in 2026 (Not a big fancy city with an almost awful rail connection to other part of Germany)

So these clowns spent all day looking for an apartment and only realized it was too expensive AFTER moving in? Seriously?

This constant overcomplication of a simple supply and demand problem. Build more housing and the rents will go down. Landlords don't owe you anything.

Move in and then „discover“ the agreed rent price is too high and sue… That’s an interesting method…

Why not live outside the city ? Cheaper and more chill.

My landlord threatens me with many different things. Even if you find a lawyer, money, and time, you have to take the risk of going to court. For them? They have insurance and they even don't pay for lawyer or anything for this process. Landlords are not exploiting the system they are scamming. No one detects or enforces the laws on those companies, so they keep scamming people. And the funniest part is, in the end, they don't get any penalty they just pay the money back?!?!?! Yes, they keep abusing people because nothing stops them. It's a perfect business in Berlin. Do this: let people sign your contract and force them to pay you. No one will charge you for anything.

The prices are determined by supply and demand.. So the only way to solve the problem is to build taller houses, preferably in the suburbs.

Do you all realize that it all makes less and less sense to rent any property? You will end up in ever struggling renting market with such regulations. Owners would just stop giving flats for rent.

Normally the videos from DW are informative, but this one was like watching CNN. Very distorted information. Rent will only be expensive if building is expensive, reduce taxation, remove the red tape on construction regulations and you will see prices going down fast.

I can only imagine the governaments are benefiting from this or working for the ones who does :(

more buildings does not mean more affordable housing; there are a way too many empty spaces which are not rented, so companies can profit from it by renting 3x or 4x time more and for short terms.

wow, this is really an unexpected and new problem! Oh my god ! What can we possibly do with that?

3:29 Who reads the contract AFTER they move?

Wamen affected most.

If you regulate the price of course you get supply demand issues. The government recommended rent price make no sense in a current market.

What about the landlord view its true we need an incentive to people to bring their homes for rent also, of course people want to make money, so this article stating "if profit is what you interest in" is already a biased way and what else is what landlords want, if you buy a house and put for rent do you do it to lose money to put ahouse in market to give people home, of course not you do it to earn money, discuss things from both perspectives and we need an incentive to bring more homes to reduce prices and at the same time have a reasonable protection for the tenant, now if you focus the full story on one side you are making bad journalism

it is a horror what happens in Germany!

"A majority of people in Germany live in rented accomodations and are protected by law from the fiercest aspects of the free market."

In other words: a widow living since 40 years in a three bedroom flat, but now alone, does not have to compete with young families new to the market.

On the other hand, there are many tenants who does not want to pay rent and dont want to move out. Also don't want to work. Such a burden to the system.

CAPITALISM.

In addition, there are the tightened rules for the new recipients of basic security, which also include more and more families in Berlin. You now have to all individually (!) prove that there is no cheaper apartment for application or during the shortened waiting period. So the most vulnerable are burdened even more when their plight is greatest.

Please make more video about this. Need more stories...

I am the only person to find it outrageous that the government dictates how much MY property should costs to rent ? socialism is ruining the country.. time will prove this

Treating housing as a corporate profit-machine is destroying our cities. When corporations and multi-property landlords hoard homes, they prioritize max profit over maintenance, leading to urban decay.Cities only truly thrive when people can afford to own their homes. Homeowners invest in renovations and care for their properties, which revitalizes the economy and creates the stability needed to start a family. We must stop corporate hoarding so people can afford to have a house, take care of their community, and feel secure enough to have children.

House system in Germany its catastrophe 😢

Why am I not amused to see Heimstaden in the spotlight for this?

The blame does not lie with a digital nomad or someone who has done well in life moving to a nice place there are 3 much bigger issues at play.



1. Since 1976 the Global Population has doubled from 4 Billion to over 8 Billion - do we have twice as many properties worldwide?



2. The number of women working has increased and what this means is there labour supply has massively increased - result is salaries do not rise.

Houses rise year on year and salaries do not so the fact assets slightly outstrip inflation and that makes them unaffordable



3. Illegal immigration en masse - which costs money and weakens the governments abilities to solve 1 and 2 as all counties are now firefighting.







Solution?

1. Build social housing in Africa and other places where illegal immigrants are streaming in from - its cheaper to do help them live in their own country v live somewhere that is at capacity. - Also more housing in Berlin and in other cities - but making it worthwhile for those seeking a better life to remain in their own countries will pay longer term dividends for everyone.



2. Governments need to legislate against people owning many properties, without this people will always buy up multiple properties



3. Tax digital nomads and foreigners a lot so they can put money in.



These issues are everywhere (i just copied and pasted this message from the same video about Lisbon) is particularly badly hit but with more people, more labour supply and more illegal immigration this issue is not about a 25 year old who works online - there are much bigger issues that need addressed and politicians always have to point and blame a group to garner support.

the solution is to allow people to build more buidings and houses to increase the offer of appartments to rent and buy, but not smart people still think that freezing rent can solve anything.

Why people want to live in big city and pay little rent? If someone cant afford the city, then just go to periphery and let the city to the people who can afford. Forcing landlords is not the good approach, this just kills the market. Instead of making new rental laws, the government should make it easy to get land and build with less energy regulations. This will push the rents and the purchase prices to drop, it is very simple math of supply and demand

The main landlord thief is Akbar Gmbh and mainly greedy man called Ismail and there are also some other peoples like him who is evading taxes and putting more people in a apartment and taking commission from people in the names of service charge and most of the students including me don't know where to report and complaint and housing in berlin is catastrophic and in the watsapp group you can see they are asking for commission per head its 200 euro now....and getting deposit return from them is even difficult and they are taking half rental amount in hand cash mostly....

if you buy a flat in berlin today and rent it out at double the price of the rent break/ you are lucky if you get 2,5pct a year on your investment (so if your mortgage is 4pct you lose money). Done blame landlords : blame the dumb government making it impossible to build more

Crisis?
It’s called free markets. Just because you can’t afford something doesn’t mean that a crime is being committed.

The whole framing by politicians, and therefore by the media, is clear after the first sentence of the video "landlords find ways to exploit tenants". That is so unilateral, biased and incendiary that it makes my blood boil.
As if every euro landlords get is theirs to keep, renting out your flat is risk free and modernization, repairs, interest rates and taxes haven't exploded in the last decades.

Landlords are just a new easy scapegoat, an easy target by the government to offload their failures in housing politics, cost management and tax law.

Sure there are some bad apples, but judgement on landlords charging more than what the government arbitrarily calls "too much" is generalized, and that's not fair. We all pay taxes so that if something goes wrong, the social safety net will catch us. However, by vilifying landlords and making them lower their income they are making landlords responsible and liable to provide that social welfare state the government failed to provide regardless of the millions and billions of tax euros coming in. Makes me sick and I wish tenants would see this for what it is.

Unchecked immigration… fix this !

This landlords talk like it’s their right to make money out of housing. Flash news: it’s not! A place to live is a human right, and it’s not yours to make profit from. If it’s not of your liking go invest your money in something else that is not a basic human necessity> spooling the greed and no shame some have!

The German joint venture of Heimstaden, Allianz SE is the largest shareholder by capital share at 56.25%. Only the company formed is Swedish which Allianz may not want you to know. It’s the German against the German and not all the Swedish.

I pay 900 on an apartment that is 34sqm my friend pays 690 for a place that is 55sqm.

Maybe one also has to ask the question why no one wants to build in Germany any longer.

one relevant aspect that was omitted: We keep telling ourselves that people in Germany prefer renting, but that misses the point in many cases. The system actively incentivizes it. Tax breaks for landlords and no support for first-time buyers mean that, ~ above €70K/year income, it’s more profitable to stay a tenant, and become a landlord elsewhere than to buy your own home. That’s not preference, that’s policy distortion.

In an ongoing rent reduction lawsuit in Berlin. They've been charging us 240% above the brake price, using cheap/damaged/old furniture as a loophole. Same thing is happening to our neighbour - Will update after our court date.

11:27, BEN! What's on the counter top? What if your parents are watching! Clean your room, dude!

on the side note, who ever edited the video should care about not letting the audio clip constantly when the host was speaking.

Encourage Employers, Universities to Build more Houses.

The funniest part? The government knows about this issue—and still does nothing. 😂
Sometimes it feels like it only works for the rich, helping them get even richer.