Dobrindt plans high hurdles for socialization

For the federal government it is a race against time: the Left Party in Berlin, which is currently conducting exploratory talks at the state level, wants to socialize apartments in the future. However, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is working on a law that sets high hurdles for exactly this.

The project, also known as the “anti-expropriation law”, was passed by a coalition committee of the Union and the SPD. Now there are details about the planned law for the first time.

The Bild newspaper first reported on it. The CSU politician told the newspaper: "We will make it clear in an investment protection law that arbitrary left-wing socialization fetish is incompatible with the Basic Law."

Key points of the law

The key points of the law stipulate, among other things: socialization of rental apartments, for example, should only be possible if an imperative necessity can be proven. A state government would then have to prove that it has fully exhausted all other means, i.e. investments in and support for housing construction, and that it has no other choice. If expropriation takes place, compensation must be paid “immediately in money” and, above all, at the market value, which is determined by an appraisal.

Plans complicated

This could make the plans in Berlin much more difficult. As their exploratory paper shows, the parties in the capital want to take action against private housing companies with a portfolio of more than 10,000 apartments. They are planning compensation costs of 16 billion euros, which is likely to be below the market value of the apartments.

A corresponding law is to be presented to the Berlin House of Representatives in mid-2028. Expropriation according to Article 14, which is also anchored in the Basic Law, is ruled out in the Berlin parties' paper.

Left leader Luigi Pantisano accused Dobrindt and the entire black-red federal government of being more important to them than the tenants. “Such a law will not stand before the Federal Constitutional Court,” he emphasized. Now the federal SPD has to decide which side it is on: “On the side of the rental mafia or the tenants.”

Whether there will be coalition negotiations in Berlin will be decided next Saturday at a state party conference of the Left; the SPD and the Greens have already agreed.