Tenants in Berlin-Wedding fear displacement: District office approves thermal insulation – and thus higher rents

In Berlin’s Wedding, the tenants of an apartment block are sounding the alarm because modernizations have been announced there: the tenants of the “Max Gardens” at Reinickendorfer Straße 81 and 83-87 as well as Maxstraße 4 a-i and k-m. Around 180 households are affected. The residents fear that they will no longer be able to afford future rents.

Around half of the tenants have now submitted hardship applications to the property management. On Friday, the entire tenant community also wrote an open letter to state and district politicians asking for support: “For numerous families, older people and households with middle and low incomes, this (the announced rent increase – editor’s note) represents a significant and sometimes insurmountable challenge,” it says.

Miriam G. Tenant on Reinickendorfer Straße, fears: “I will have to move out of our apartment with my children from summer 2027 because I cannot pay the announced rent increase of over 300 euros.” The rent will then probably make up more than half of their income.

Adaptation to the Building Energy Act

According to the Mitte district office, the modernization work is about “adapting to the minimum requirements of the Building Energy Act”. At the end of January, the office approved the following work, even though the affected addresses are in the environmental protection area: the thermal insulation of the facades, the replacement of the windows and external doors, a certain form of thermal insulation of the ceilings and the hydraulic balancing of the heating systems and hot water preparation.

“The requested measures comply with the legal provisions, which is why they had to be approved by the office,” said the district’s press office. The owners had previously tried an application for a comprehensive modernization, i.e. not just energy-related upgrades. However, the district office rejected this on August 1, 2025.

Up to 400 euros more per month

The approved measures are now scheduled to start in July and last nine months. The tenants should then pay significantly more: according to the tenant initiative, sometimes up to 400 euros more per month, which means an increase of thirty percent. According to the initiative, the total costs of the construction work amount to 7.5 million euros.

The tenants generally welcome necessary maintenance and measures to improve energy efficiency, they write in their open letter: “Especially against the background of the climate goals, we believe that modernizing the building stock makes sense and is necessary. In our view, however, it is crucial that these measures are implemented in a socially responsible manner.”

They also express the fear that costs for maintaining the buildings – which may not be passed on to the tenants – could have been included in the cost breakdown for the rent increase.

A spokesman for the owner company, however, writes: “The planned measures are aimed at bringing the buildings into an energy-efficient state.” They would be limited to the scope permitted by approval law. “The planned measures should not lead to any displacement. The tenants should be kept in the area for the long term.”

The owners have received hardship applications from tenants. “We, of course, examine these individually and carefully. We do not comment on specific figures or ongoing individual case reviews.”