A parliamentary information request has revealed that of Berlin’s nearly 40.000 holiday let apartments, only 600 have been approved since 2016.

600 holiday lets approved in Berlin since 2016

According to a law introduced in 2016, anyone who wants to lease their entire Berlin property as a holiday let must first have approval from the local authorities.

Since this law was introduced, 5.000 applications have been submitted. However, a parliamentary enquiry from Alexander King (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) has revealed that authorities have only approved around 600 applications over the past nine years.

Official estimates and the number of online listings suggest that there are around 40.000 entire properties in Berlin which are rented as holiday accommodation.

Following King’s enquiry, Berlin’s state audit court (Landesrechnungshof) says district authorities (Bezirksämter) are not doing enough to prevent illegal holiday lets. The Landesrechnungshof is also pushing the Berlin senate to offer Bezirksämter more support and update software for reviewing platforms like Airbnb.

“Information from the public was not consistently followed up and offences were not consistently prosecuted,” the Landesrechnungshof said in a statement.

According to the Berlin Senate, the city's central Mitte district is the most disproportionately affected. Every second holiday let registered in Berlin since 2016 was registered in Mitte and in 2024 alone, 1.000 applications were submitted to let a holiday home in the district. Just 112 of these 1.000 applications were approved by Bezirksamt Mitte.

The combination of a nationwide housing shortage and poorly enforced rent regulation saw Berlin become the third most expensive German city for renters in autumn 2024. In November, Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) called on the federal government to regulate rents more strictly, to stop rental costs in the capital from exploding further,

Berlin senate counting on new EU-wide law

Speaking to local public broadcaster rbb, a spokesperson from the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development explained that an EU law introduced in 2024 means it is now easier for member states to surveil online rental portals. 

The Berlin Senate is now considering how this new law can be used to better regulate illegal lets in the city. One possible change is that listing websites would be obliged to report suspected illegal lets to local authorities.

“Then it would no longer be necessary to have a search engine which searches rental platforms for possible violations of the ban on misappropriation,” the spokesperson told rbb.

Thumb image credit: hinterhof / Shutterstock.com