CDU on housing

The CDU wants existing tenant rights enforced more consistently and the rent review office (Mietpreisprüfstelle) expanded into a body that also penalizes violations. In the program's view, strong tenant protection mainly means enforcing current law.

The CDU wants to protect renters better. Berlin has a rent review office. It checks if rents are legal. This office should get more staff. It should also punish violations.

The rent review office is to check tenancies and help tenants reclaim overpaid rent, backed by more staff, digital procedures and binding processing deadlines. Citizen service offices are to inform people about the rent cap rules and advice services when they register a new address. Every district is to get local tenant advice centers, which are later to be merged into the review office. Housing inspection is to get more staff and powers against neglect, overcrowding and illegal misuse of housing, with districts supported by central analysis from the state administration. Housing benefit and WBS (housing eligibility certificates) are to be processed faster using digital tools and AI.

The CDU rejects socializing large housing companies and introducing a rent freeze (Mietendeckel). In its view, such measures would deter investment, block new construction and disadvantage people looking for housing. It prefers more construction and tenant protection instead.

The CDU is against taking over housing companies. It is also against a rent freeze. That is a fixed upper limit on rents. The CDU says this means less building. It wants to build more homes instead.

According to the program, expropriation and a rent freeze would shrink the housing supply. Existing tenancies would be favored, while families and people with low and middle incomes would barely stand a chance when searching. To counter sharply rising rents, the CDU relies on faster construction and strong tenant protection.

The CDU wants binding rules for subletting in tight housing markets and better protection of subtenants against main tenants. The aim is to prevent abuse and increase transparency.

Some people rent from another renter. They are called subtenants. The CDU wants to protect them better. There should be clear rules. They should learn what the main renter pays.

Through changes to federal law, subtenants are to gain a right to information on the rent and term of the main lease. Civil Code (BGB) tenancy law is to apply bindingly to sublets. Subtenants are to get access to the rent review office. Their right to a landlord's confirmation of residence is to be secured, issued by the owner if necessary.

The CDU wants social housing to go specifically to those in need. For new leases, tenants' incomes are to be checked regularly, and those exceeding the limits would pay a rent surcharge.

Social housing should go to people who need it. The CDU wants to check renters' incomes regularly. People who earn too much pay more rent. The money should pay for new social housing.

The surcharge is to be set out in the lease. The checks are to involve minimal administrative effort and simple procedures. The revenue is to go into housing subsidies and the construction of new social housing.

The CDU wants to promote first-time purchases of owner-occupied homes, especially for families. It plans a grant, a rent-to-own model for state-owned apartments and a sharp cut in the real estate transfer tax. The program sees ownership as a path to upward mobility and retirement security.

The CDU wants more people to buy their own home. First-time buyers should get money. Each adult gets 10,000 euros. Each child gets 5,000 euros. The tax on buying a home should also go down.

The ownership bonus is to be tied to income limits and modeled on Brandenburg's program. Under the "Berliner Mietkauf" (rent-to-own) model, tenants of state-owned housing companies are to be able to buy their apartment. For purchases up to 800,000 euros, the real estate transfer tax is to be waived on the first 300,000 euros of the price. Anyone selling within ten years must repay the benefit proportionally.

The CDU wants allocation of state-owned apartments to aim more at a social mix in neighborhoods. It considers today's focus on households receiving welfare benefits unsustainable. It also wants to promote apartment swaps and family housing.

The CDU wants mixed neighborhoods. State-owned apartments should go to many kinds of people. Families with two incomes should also have a chance. Older people should be able to move to smaller homes. Then big apartments become free for families.

The companies are to get more leeway in mixing subsidized and market-rate units and are to reopen their customer service centers. Income criteria and allocation priorities are to be revised so that first-time households and dual-income families have better chances. A family housing program and a "Junges Wohnen" (young living) rental concept for students and trainees are planned. When tenants move to a smaller, comparably equipped unit within the state-owned companies, the net rent per square meter is not to rise. Multigenerational housing and assisted-living care shares are to be supported.

The CDU wants to expand the public-interest housing sector and specifically support cooperatives, church-run providers and foundations. The target is at least 1,000 new cooperative apartments per year. Joining a cooperative is also to become cheaper.

Housing cooperatives are owned by their members together. The CDU wants to support them more. At least 1,000 new homes should be built each year. Buying shares in a cooperative should cost less.

About 800 of the 1,000 annual cooperative units are to be subsidized, with flexible commitment periods and interest-free or very cheap loans. Occupancy commitments are also to be provable in existing buildings, and a reduced-interest loan program without extra commitments is planned for adding floors and densification. Ground lease terms are to be adjusted, for example by capping value-indexation clauses and allowing reduced land values. Buying cooperative shares is to be supported with cheap loans and grants. Church-run companies, foundations and other nonprofits with a comparable social mission are to get access to the same funding tools.

The CDU wants a housing offensive to create 100,000 new homes by 2031. It plans a standardized Berlin apartment building type, shorter procedures and limiting environmental, species-protection and heritage rules to the legally required minimum.

The CDU wants 100,000 new homes by 2031. Berlin should have a standard building design. These buildings should get permits faster. Applications should go digital. Rules for nature and old buildings should not be stricter than needed.

The "Berlin-MFH" is to rely on standardized designs and serial production, meet the EH 55 energy standard and be low-barrier; projects meeting it are to get faster permits. Type approvals from other German states are to be recognized directly. Applications and decisions are to be digitized and district office processes made more efficient. Standards for urban development contracts and the "Berliner Modell" are to be reviewed for their effect on construction and rents. Environmental, species and heritage protection are to be cut back to what federal and EU law strictly require.

The CDU wants to expand the stock of Berlin's state-owned housing companies to 500,000 apartments. The companies are to receive additional equity and a reliable framework.

Berlin owns its own housing companies. They should own 500,000 apartments in the future. The state should give them more money. They should use it to build and renovate.

The program sees the state-owned companies as central to creating new housing. Targeted equity injections are to enable new construction, expansion of existing stock and energy retrofits at the same time. This is meant to significantly raise the share of public-interest housing.

The CDU wants to develop the edges of Tempelhofer Feld, the former airport field, with more than 20,000 homes. The open space itself is to remain a place for sports, leisure, culture and recreation and be further developed.

The CDU wants to build on the edges of Tempelhofer Feld. More than 20,000 homes would go there. About 50,000 people could live there. The big open field in the middle stays. People can still use it for sports and relaxing.

More than 20,000 homes for about 50,000 people are planned on the edge areas. The field is to be kept as a space for sports, leisure, culture and recreation and developed in a targeted way. In addition, the CDU wants to consistently apply the building order under Section 176 of the Federal Building Code when a plot is ready for construction and no start of work has been reported two years after the permit was issued.