4 ms·

While it is true, that there are simply not enough apartments the rest of your argument is wrong. In berlin, the rent limits don't work, because of various rea

by bpfrh 7y ago

While it is true, that there are simply not enough apartments the rest of your argument is wrong. In berlin, the rent limits don't work, because of various reasons, one for example is that companies simply rise the costs that are not rent for appartment, force the people living there out and then raise the rent. The rent limit is not the only thing that has to be done but it is a step in the right direction. I always hear the argument about investors and the rent limit, but there are multiple reason why that is a bad argument. The investors had about 20 years time to fix this issues and make a good living out of it. Instead they raised the rents to exorbitant values and didn't built new appartments. Investors can still make good money of appartments if they just rent them for a fair amount. Of course that means they don't get a 200% percent profit, but I don't think that should be the case anyway. Homes are not up for speculation and profit and they should never have been. A good chunk of the houses in berlin where owned by the city and state and sold for far too little.

llampx 7y ago
> In berlin, the rent limits don't work, because of various reasons, one for example is that companies simply rise the costs that are not rent for appartment, force the people living there out and then raise the rent. Do you have examples of this happening? Nebenkosten are controlled by the government or the responsible agencies as well, and you get a detailed invoice of any costs so the landlord can't just bill whatever they want.
- bpfrh 7y ago
  Afaik there was a winter service which was billed and nobody ever saw that winterservice happening. Or there were addons built to the house that where not necessary and would force the people out.
PavlovsCat 7y ago
> Homes are not up for speculation and profit and they should never have been. Amen. Here's a bit by Stewart Lee that I consider more insightful than funny: > Basically, what's happened is, somewhere along the line, as a society, we confused the notion of home with the possibility of an investment opportunity. What kind of creature wants to live in an investment opportunity? Only man. The fox has his den, the bee has his hive, the stoat has a a stoat hole. But only man, ladies and gentlemen, the worst animal of all, chooses to make his nest in an investment opportunity. Mmm, snuggle down in the lovely credit. All warm in the mortgage payment. > Mmm! But home is not the same thing as an investment opportunity. Home is a basic requirement of life, like food. > When a hamster hides hamster food in his hamster cheeks, he doesn't keep it there in the hope that it will rise in value. And when a squirrel hides a nut, he's not trying to play the acorn market. And having eaten the nut, he doesn't keep the shell in the hope of setting up a lucrative sideline making tiny hats for elves. And when a dog buries a bone, he doesn't keep that bone buried until the point where it's reached its maximum market value. He digs it up when he's hungry. > And if estate agents were dogs burying bones, not only would they leave those bones buried until they'd reached their maximum market value, but they'd run around starting rumours about imminent increases in the price of bones in the hope of driving up the market, and they'd invite loads of boneless dogs to all view the bone at the same time in the hope of giving the impression there was a massive demand for bones. And they would photograph the bone in such a way as to make it look much more juicy than it really was, airbrushing out the maggots and cropping the rotten meat.
levosmetalo 7y ago
Why everyone in Germany fixates with "big investors" and fighting them? In reality 60+% of rental apartments in Germany are actually rented by private owners, for most of them it's their retirement plan. Around 10% of German households receive some rental income. 75% of landlords have ROI of less than 1% per year, almost one half even 0 or negative. But hey, evil landlords, evil corporations. Corporations would be just fine, someone managing 100000 apartments is much more efficient than someone managing one or two. Those small guys would be just pushed out of market, and only corporations would just buy them out in next decade or two. Then we'll have real rent problem.

by bpfrh 7y ago

llampx 7y ago

> In berlin, the rent limits don't work, because of various reasons, one for example is that companies simply rise the costs that are not rent for appartment, force the people living there out and then raise the rent. Do you have examples of this happening? Nebenkosten are controlled by the government or the responsible agencies as well, and you get a detailed invoice of any costs so the landlord can't just bill whatever they want.

bpfrh 7y ago
Afaik there was a winter service which was billed and nobody ever saw that winterservice happening. Or there were addons built to the house that where not necessary and would force the people out.

PavlovsCat 7y ago

> Homes are not up for speculation and profit and they should never have been. Amen. Here's a bit by Stewart Lee that I consider more insightful than funny: > Basically, what's happened is, somewhere along the line, as a society, we confused the notion of home with the possibility of an investment opportunity. What kind of creature wants to live in an investment opportunity? Only man. The fox has his den, the bee has his hive, the stoat has a a stoat hole. But only man, ladies and gentlemen, the worst animal of all, chooses to make his nest in an investment opportunity. Mmm, snuggle down in the lovely credit. All warm in the mortgage payment. > Mmm! But home is not the same thing as an investment opportunity. Home is a basic requirement of life, like food. > When a hamster hides hamster food in his hamster cheeks, he doesn't keep it there in the hope that it will rise in value. And when a squirrel hides a nut, he's not trying to play the acorn market. And having eaten the nut, he doesn't keep the shell in the hope of setting up a lucrative sideline making tiny hats for elves. And when a dog buries a bone, he doesn't keep that bone buried until the point where it's reached its maximum market value. He digs it up when he's hungry. > And if estate agents were dogs burying bones, not only would they leave those bones buried until they'd reached their maximum market value, but they'd run around starting rumours about imminent increases in the price of bones in the hope of driving up the market, and they'd invite loads of boneless dogs to all view the bone at the same time in the hope of giving the impression there was a massive demand for bones. And they would photograph the bone in such a way as to make it look much more juicy than it really was, airbrushing out the maggots and cropping the rotten meat.

levosmetalo 7y ago

Why everyone in Germany fixates with "big investors" and fighting them? In reality 60+% of rental apartments in Germany are actually rented by private owners, for most of them it's their retirement plan. Around 10% of German households receive some rental income. 75% of landlords have ROI of less than 1% per year, almost one half even 0 or negative. But hey, evil landlords, evil corporations. Corporations would be just fine, someone managing 100000 apartments is much more efficient than someone managing one or two. Those small guys would be just pushed out of market, and only corporations would just buy them out in next decade or two. Then we'll have real rent problem.