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Germany proves that private renting can work better than it does in Britain
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
44 points (86.7% liked)
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Wait, we are the model? What is the world coming to?
Here in New Zealand renting is horrible compared to renting in Germany. You can't hang up anything, most places are cold and damp but still expensive. Then there are regular inspections that are quite invasive where an agent takes photos of the whole apartment or house. Germany is paradise compared to that.
To go on a more broad rant, there are many things awry in Germany and it is disheartening to hear that Germany still manages to be world-leading in many areas.
Do you think your election system is bad. Actually, those many areas in your country are world-leading because voters have more power than other places.
Our voters have the choice of picking who gets to pull our leg at our expense for the next 4 to 5 years. Very powerful indeed.
At least you get to choose!
Yes, but the choice is largely an illusion. It's a bit like reaching into a clogged toilet to pick your favourite turd.
Yeah but look at Japan. We here have got the same political party (LDP) for like 80 years, no matter what we do. Even when the LDP declared an election "loss", we still got an LDP cabinet. At least literally 90% of the time.
In Germany this isn't too dissimilar as you might think, except it's usually switching between the Union and SPD, and they often are part of the same government coalition as well.
It's the same in Australia, plus you can basically be kicked out any time if the landlord decides they want to use the house for something else or just up the rent. Renting in Australia is highly precarious.
Cost or supply are one thing, but Germany definitely has strong tenancy rights.
Cyprus likes to pride itself as having strong tenancy rights too, but it's not even half of what I enjoy in Germany. I didn't even have to get permission to hang a picture on the wall.
Wait what? People can not hang pictures without their landlord's permission in other countries?
Where German rental contracts say "any alterations need to be reverted for handover", rental contracts where I originally come from say "any alternations are forbidden without the express permission of the lessor".
Though, you typically also make a deposit at the beginning, which you can either get back if you leave the place in a close to the original state, or leave it with the landlord to pay for the work needed.
Not being able to do anything without explicit permission sounds wild though, and potentially also annoying for the landlords.
It's crazy if you think about it. All furniture warns in the manual that it should be fixed on the position with a screw. Because otherwise, you might die in case of earthquakes here.
They don't allow putting a screw into the wall...
That's all nice and all, but tenancy rights are kind of moot, if you can't afford a reasonably sized apartment or even find anything at all.
No, not really. They aren't moot.
Welcome to the UK where the same rental would be twice the price without any security or rights to your place.
Renting is fucked basically everywhere, but in Germany it's less fucked than most places, if you can believe it.
The only real tenant rights are not being able to be kicked out for no reason and legal protection of children. That's about it.
Landlords still can and will raise your rent irresponsibly and add any kind of extra cost to your rent. All that without providing anything more.