Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD have agreed in principle to socialise the Berlin flats of large landlords, but only those with more than 10,000 flats, a much higher threshold than the 2021 referendum demanded. According to the Tagesspiegel, at least 150,000 flats in Berlin could be affected, most of them owned by five companies.
What happened
The 2021 Volksentscheid (referendum) “Deutsche Wohnen und Co. enteignen” called for the Vergesellschaftung (socialisation, meaning transfer into public ownership) of every landlord with 3,000 flats or more. In their Sondierungen (exploratory coalition talks), Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD instead agreed to set the threshold above 10,000 flats.
Negotiators told the Tagesspiegel that the SPD had started the talks wanting an even higher threshold. Die Linke and the Greens opposed that and also had legal concerns. At 20,000 or 30,000 flats, possibly only Vonovia would be affected, and a law written around a single company might not hold up in court. Niklas Schenker, Die Linke’s housing expert in the talks, told the paper it was a “painful compromise, but defensible and legally sound”.
The Tagesspiegel reports that the parties would pay at most 16 billion euros for 150,000 flats, an average of roughly 107,000 euros per flat.
What it means for you
If you rent from one of the large companies below, your home could come under public ownership if the plan goes ahead. The Tagesspiegel says the list is not yet certain. Berlin will only have a full picture of who owns more than 10,000 flats once the Mietenkataster (a planned register of rents and landlords) exists. The paper names five likely candidates:
- Vonovia owns 130,000 flats in Berlin. It puts their market value at about 23 billion euros, or roughly 177,000 euros per flat. Its average Berlin rent is 8.26 euros per square metre netto kalt (base rent excluding heating and service charges). That is slightly above the median of 7.71 euros in the Mietspiegel, Berlin’s official rent index. The Tagesspiegel reports that courts have found the company apparently invented features that raise a flat’s value in order to charge higher rents. There are also allegations of unclear billing of Nebenkosten (service charges) by its subsidiaries.
- Adler Group owns 17,500 rental flats, 99 percent of them in Berlin, at an average rent of 8.68 euros per square metre. In 2023 it left the Berliner Bündnis für Wohnungsneubau und bezahlbares Wohnen, a voluntary alliance whose members agreed to raise rents by at most 11 percent rather than the legal 15 percent over three years. The paper reports recurring problems with legionella and mould in Adler buildings.
- Heimstaden owns 20,000 flats in Berlin. It does not disclose an average rent. The company is accused of often ignoring the Mietpreisbremse (rent cap) by claiming a flat was being let for the first time after “comprehensive modernisation”, which exempts it from the cap. Citing RBB, the Tagesspiegel says hundreds of tenants have successfully challenged this. Heimstaden denies the allegations.
- Covivio owned 17,713 residential and commercial units in Berlin at the end of 2025. Its average rent across Germany was 8.92 euros per square metre. It did not give a figure for Berlin.
- DVI-Gruppe may sit right at the threshold. It would not disclose the size of its Berlin holdings. Its subsidiary WOHN-UNION lists about 11,000 units nationwide, mainly in Berlin and Brandenburg. If the company is affected and may keep up to 10,000 flats, it might only have to give up very few.
The plan does not change your tenancy today. If you rent from one of these companies, it is still worth comparing your rent with the Mietspiegel. If your flat was advertised as a first let after modernisation, it may also be worth checking whether the rent cap should apply.
What to watch next
The key step is the Mietenkataster, which will show exactly which landlords are over 10,000 flats. The 10,000 threshold and the 16 billion euro ceiling come from exploratory talks, not from a law. Any future law could also face legal challenges, which is why the parties say they chose a threshold covering several companies. Some new building is also planned: Heimstaden plans about 500 new rental flats, and DVI is developing 450 to 460 flats on the Insel Gartenfeld in Spandau, although the Tagesspiegel says construction appears not to have started yet.
Source: Tagesspiegel
Sources
- Tagesspiegel: Pläne zur Vergesellschaftung: Diese Immobilienriesen sollen in Berlin mindestens 150.000 Wohnungen verlieren, accessed 23 October 2026
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