German public fight back against rising property rental costs

For sure we are seeing some over inflated costs for rentals in the UK, many folk are paying more and more towards their rent and having to sacrifice at times basic essentials so to keep the landlords pockets aligned, it been sometime since we can really call a home a home, more a home is an asset and money earning tool… Though signs of the times are hitting Germany where reports across the internet are showing protesters rallying against rental insanity in major cities.

Rental prices have risen sharply in major cities such as Berlin during the last decade and housing activists are now demanding that the government investigate the growing concerns that larger rental companies show not be holding real estate stock that should serve the public needs.

It was shown that thousands of people took to the streets in Berlin to protest against rising rents with similar rallies in other major cities such as Frankfurt and Munich. The fear of being priced out of their properties have seen 10,000’s protesting in the streets so to attract media and government attention.

A Kreuzberg resident Paul Afred Kleinertsaid was quoted as saying: “There’s a massive sell-off happening in this city…

Entire streets have been purchased by Japanese, Norwegian or American consortiums…

I support these protests myself, a home should be a home and housing stock should not be purchased up by companies looking to safe guard the pockets of their share holders. Basic deter-ants should be in place such as high taxes as you increase your property portfolio, especially those which will be rented out to third parties ie not for direct needs of the owner, to make the business of being a landlord less lucrative and near on impossible above a certain stock level – A look in to caps on rentals should also take place, especially here in the UK, as borrowing becomes harder and harder…

Full report can be read on the DW.com website.

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

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