No updates received on the Netherland's current status by the Commission.
In the bustling city of Düsseldorf, tenants are growing increasingly concerned about their future as real estate developers look to profit from the booming property market. The Alliance for Affordable Housing, a local advocacy group, has stepped up efforts to support tenants and defend against eviction.
Leonie Sieben-Prinz, spokesperson for the Alliance, has stated that the city's housing protection advice center seems to be lacking in its efforts to show tough love to ruthless landlords. The Alliance is encouraging networking in the neighborhood to help tenants navigate the complexities of eviction proceedings and find alternatives.
One such case has been identified on Concordia Street 83, where tenants are facing eviction as the new owner, a real estate developer, plans to re-rent or sell the property at a higher price. The tenants have not yet received any eviction notices, but they are very concerned about what might come next. Equivalent, affordable housing is scarcely available in the neighborhood, causing stress and sleepless nights for the tenants.
Common strategies real estate developers use in German cities like Düsseldorf to facilitate tenant eviction and subsequently re-rent or sell properties at higher prices often include seeking legal grounds for eviction, offering tenants buyouts or relocation incentives, using modernization or renovation notifications, gradual rent increases within legal limits, changing property use, and legal and procedural maneuvers that exploit procedural delays or administrative pressure.
However, due to strong tenant protections under German tenancy laws, direct evictions without robust grounds and due process are rare and legally constrained. In Düsseldorf specifically, real estate developers' practices are shaped by local rent control policies, court rulings, and rising demand pressures, resulting in a focus on modernization-based evictions and legal negotiation tactics as common methods to re-rent or sell properties profitably.
The Alliance for Affordable Housing has identified over a dozen buildings in Unterbilk where the suspicion of eviction exists. To help tenants stay informed, the Alliance is planning three information stands. On June 28th during the Queens&Heroes summer festival, an information stand will be at the Lessingplatz from 2 to 6 pm. On July 4th, another stand will be on the Friedensplatz in Unterbilk from 1:30 to 4:30 pm, and a third information stand will be on the Hermannplatz in Flingern on July 5th from 10 am to 2 pm. Contact details for the Alliance can be found at these information stands.
In other cities like Freiburg, tenants have taken a more proactive approach by writing to the landlord and warning that if a rental agreement is concluded at certain conditions, the criminal offense of rent gouging would be fulfilled. As tenants in Düsseldorf face similar threats, the Alliance for Affordable Housing is urging them to stay vigilant and seek support when needed.
- Leonie Sieben-Prinz, the Alliance for Affordable Housing spokesperson, is advocating for tenants to network within their neighborhood as a means of navigating complex eviction proceedings and finding alternative housing options, especially amidst the booming real estate market in Düsseldorf.
- As investing in real estate continues to flourish in Düsseldorf's housing market, the Alliance for Affordable Housing is urging tenants to be wary of potential eviction attempts by developers looking to profit, and to seek advice and support from the Alliance or local information stands in order to safeguard their living situations.
