By Bond Robertson 
Berlin’s local authorities may buy up Berlin’s biggest property owners, including Norway’s Ivar Tollefsen, after a government takeover proposal for all of its more than 3,000 rental companies was approved by a large majority in a referendum on Sunday night.
Up to 56 percent of the population voted in favor of the proposal and 39 percent voted against it, according to the time.
– We have defied powerful enemies and won. We’re not disappearing so fast, says Joanna Kociak, spokeswoman for the Deutsche Wohnen & Co enteignen initiative. press release. Deutsche Wohnen is the largest property owner in Berlin, but Heimstaden in Ivar Tollefsen, with 4,000 apartments, is also a major owner.
Great buy
Interestingly, Tollfsen announced that he would buy nearly 14,000 apartments in Berlin on Sunday night, around the same time as the election result. The city will thus be four times larger than the city, in an agreement worth NOK 92 billion.
Read more here: Ivar Tollefsen buys homes for 92 billion NOK
The online newspaper has contacted Heimstaden for comment, but has not yet responded to an inquiry.
The uprising occurred as a result of a decision by the German Supreme Court that overturned Berlin’s decision to set a rent ceiling in the capital. The decision initially led to a five-year rent freeze of 1.5 million apartments in Berlin from June 2019, but the court ruled the measure was illegal.
The popular movement was called Deutsche Wohnen und Co. The property collected more than 350,000 signatures – far more than the 175,000 needed to hold a referendum.
Read more here: German activists threaten Norwegian billionaire: he can seize thousands of Ivar Tollefsen apartments in Berlin
Doubt
Offer that may cost more 80 billion, not legally binding, but supported by left-wing extremists the left, which is involved in local state government.
However, SPD politician Franziska Giffi, who could become the new Berlin mayor, stated that she Not sure whether the suggestion can be implemented.
However, she stresses that she wants to consider the possibilities.
– We will respect the referendum and take the necessary preliminary steps, as you say in the ARD national casket.
Read also: Here, Merkel’s favorite person makes a huge mistake
However, activists are clear that they are not embarking on anything other than the full implementation of the plan.
We do not accept procrastination strategies or derailment attempts. We all know the tricks. If the referendum is not taken into account, it is a political scandal. We won’t give up until housing blocks are nationalized, company spokesperson Callie Kunkel says in press release.
Activists say they are tired of big rent increases in Berlin, and on their own pages mention Deutsche Wohnen und Co. Real estate development at rental rates as «madness». Unlike Norway, most Berliners and large parts of the rest of Germany rent their homes.
Before the German elections here: Electoral excitement in Germany: heavy losses for the CDU under Merkel