Berlin buys 670 flats on Karl-Marx-Allee

After months of negotiations, the state of Berlin buys up flats on Karl-Marx-Allee. The buildings in question and their tenants have been making headlines for some time now.

© dpa

The state of Berlin will buy around 670 apartments on Karl-Marx-Allee in Friedrichshain from a private owner. The flats will be taken over by the municipal company Gewobag, as the Senate Chancellery announced on Monday, 15 July 2019. Originally, Predac, the previous owner, wanted to sell the apartments to Deutsche Wohnen Group, which already owns 112,000 units in Berlin. At the end of last year, this had triggered protests among tenants because they feared strong rent increases.

In a spectacular action, the state then attempted to snatch away the apartments privatized in the 1990s from Deutsche Wohnen in the former GDR's grand mile. The Senate initially developed a complicated model to support tenants in exercising their right of repurchase. The idea: the tenants buy their apartments and pass them on directly to Gewobag. Up to 46 percent of the households in the three buildings were involved.

© dpa News from Berlin The latest news, top headlines, up-to-date information and developments from Berlin. more