Berlin Has Proven That Tenants Should Not Reduce Their Claims."

Earlier this week, Berlin backed a campaign to eliminate corporate landlords with 3,000 or more apartments, with 56 percent of voters saying yes to the referendum plan. The historic decision reflects growing frustration and anger in the German capital over rising rents and real estate like an investment rather than a human right.

The Deutsche Wohnen & co Expropriate initiative was launched in 2018 to restore the properties of the country's largest property owner, Deutsche Wohnen, to create more affordable living spaces. This week's overwhelming campaign win demonstrates that tenants have power over exploitative landlords and that a collective action is a powerful tool for dealing with it.

"With our rents increasing, real estate companies in Berlin are making huge profits," says a message on the Deutsche Wohnen & co Expropriate (DWE) website. "We will no longer accept that: We want a referendum on the socialization of more than 240,000 apartments from Deutsche Wohnen, Vonovia, Akelius & Co. Art. 15 GG to make this possible."

He continued: "With the outreach, we want to remove twelve percent of rented apartments in Berlin from speculation and allow affordable rent in the long term. No more large dividends for shareholders to be paid from our leases. 

The referendum requires only a quarter of the electorate to support the adoption initiative. Still, the results are not legally binding, and the government has the final say on what needs to be done. Failure to comply with the will of the electorate, however, is politically unsustainable.

"More people voted for our initiative than any other party in Berlin. Moreover, we have received support from all parts of Berlin and from across the political spectrum," activist and DWE spokeswoman Joanna Kusiak told the Financial Times when she heard of the significant results.

Is this decision a sign that power is finally being transferred from corporate real estate owners to tenants, or is it just a slight disruption to the inevitable flow of capital and wealth to the ruling class? We spoke with several Berliners, tenants, and activists to get a feel for the atmosphere at the site and how important sound is to them.

"I signed the petition and voted for the referendum. The solution is a glimmer of hope for tenants in Berlin after difficult years. The cap rental regulations, which came into effect for a short time a year ago, were repealed in a bizarre and brutal government move that left thousands of Berlin landlords in debt more money than ever before. My former landlord, Blachko, even wrote malicious emails to his tenants instructing them to return the deposited money.