A German man has been ordered to demolish a shower he installed in his apartment in Berlin after officials ruled it would drive up rent prices in his neighbourhood.
Kasper I, 43, assumed he would have no problems installing the shower in his apartment in the district of Kreuzberg, where he has lived for a decade.
But Berlin’s city authorities, which impose strict rent control rules, ordered him to remove the shower as it would change the “character” of his neighbourhood.
The strange case highlights Berlin’s tough rules on accommodation, which are designed to mitigate the soaring cost of rent during an ongoing housing crisis.
In the case of Kasper I, whose surname has not been disclosed, the shower was deemed a “luxury” that would raise the value of the apartment and drive up rents in the area.
His apartment in Kreuzberg, one of Berlin’s trendiest neighbourhoods, is located in a “social preservation area” where housing authorities can ban alterations to rental properties.
“We emphasise that these demolition measures are necessary to preserve the character of the neighbourhood and to meet the requirements of the [Berlin] district office,” stated the letter to Kasper ordering the removal of the shower, which German newspaper Bild published.
“At first I thought this must be a mistake,” Kasper told the newspaper. He had already destroyed the shower as the Berlin authorities refused to back down on their ruling.
Rent prices have become a major issue in Berlin as the city braces for elections in September that will decide on the city’s leadership.
Berlin is suffering from a dire shortage of housing, combined with extreme demand, which has sent rent prices in many neighbourhoods skyrocketing.
Die Linke, the hard-Left party that is leading the polls in the Berlin city-state election race, has said it wants to make rent-control laws even tougher to address the housing crisis.
A Berlin district office spokesman told Bild: “Unfortunately, the district office is unable to waive the enforcement of preservation regulations in this case.
“The approval of fixtures and fittings above the average standard would set a precedent for similar cases in Germany and could ultimately lead to luxury renovations and rent increases for a large number of tenants.”