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Slashed tyres and pepper spray: Berlin tenant goes on trial for terrorising neighbours

We’ve all been there - a neighbour who likes to vacuum his apartment at 3am, or one who plays the piano badly - on purpose. But few people will have had a neighbour quite like the defendant in a trial starting in Berlin today.

Published: 6 November 2020 10:53 CET

Slashed tyres and pepper spray: Berlin tenant goes on trial for terrorising neighbours

Abdulkadir O. goes on trial on Friday at the criminal court in Moabit. Photo: DPA

The list of misdemeanours on the prosecutor’s charge sheet is long.

Property damage for repeatedly breaking the locks on the cellar door of a married couple who lived next door; slashing the tyres of the same couple's car. An assault charge for throwing eggs at one neighbour’s window.

Banging on the piping in the middle of the night to stop other people sleeping. Following neighbours when they leave their apartment and videotaping them.

If the charges are true, Abdulkadir O is likely the worst neighbour in the history of all bad neighbours. The local press have named the house he lived in in Berlin's Spandau district “the horror house of Spandau.”

There was also no way out for the terrorized neighbours. While Abdulkadir O. rented his apartment, everyone else in the building owned their apartments.

READ ALSO: High costs, long queues and discrimination: What it's like to rent in Germany

Tagesspiegel newspaper reports that Abdulkadir O. is a member of one of Berlin’s notorious Lebanese clans, who control the narcotics scene in the city and are notorious for making Arabic shopkeepers in the Neukölln district pay them “protection money.”

The activities of the clans were brought into the popular imagination by the successful TV series 4 Blocks, which is set in Neukölln.

He moved into the apartment in 2014 and terrorised his neighbours over years without the police doing anything about it.

Only when the Berlin detective department (LKA) took over the case in 2019 did prosecutors build up a case against him and bring his tyranny of his neighbours to an end.

He has already been sentenced to six months on prohibition after he sprayed pepper spray through the window of one neighbour.

Commenting on the case, Tagesspiegel wrote that “this makes clear that the clans and their members don't care a bit for our values norms and rules. They live by their own rules and don't have any consideration for others.”

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How a German 'Mieterverein' can help you reduce your rent

There’s a truism that applies to many areas of life in Germany: there are plenty of rules and legal protections, but the vast majority of people don’t know them.

This feels particularly real when it comes to the world of renters’ rights. As a nation that generally prefers to rent than to buy, Germany has a huge range of in-built protections for tenants – but that doesn’t always stop landlords from bending the rules.

The best way to make sure you’re getting a fair deal is to try and get familiar with your rights, or enlist the help of somebody who knows them inside-out.

That’s where the concept of the Mieterverein, or tenants’ association, comes in. These member-only organisations are there to advocate for the rights of tenants, keeping illegally high rents and other dodgy practices in check for renters in Germany.

These types of associations can be a life-saver for foreigners who may struggle with the German language and German law, and could even help you save money in the long run.

What is a Mieterverein?

A Mieterverein, or tenants’ association, is exactly what it sounds like: an organisation that stands up for the rights of tenants. It works by offering affordable memberships for renters – usually costing somewhere between €50 and €100 per year – which is then used to provide legal advice and representation, as well as advocacy and lobbying work.

Ultimately, the idea is about strength in numbers. Instead of a single tenant taking on a big landlord like Vonovia or Deutsche Wohnen, a collective approach gives renters both more bargaining power and more resources.

Following this principle, many of the regional Mietervereine have clubbed together to create tenants’ associations in their state, which ultimately belong to the Germany-wide umbrella association, the Deutscher Mieterbund (DMB).

There are 320 associations currently active in the DMB, with the largest being the Berliner Mieterverein with more than 190,000 members. This is followed by Hamburg, with 78,000 members, and Munich, with 63,000.

READ ALSO: How foreign residents in Germany are winning rent reductions

Members rely on tenants’ associations to assist with anything to do with Germany’s tenancy law. That means poring over rental contracts, ironing out difficulties with landlords, challenging rent increases or overly high rents, and fighting unfair or illegal evictions.

Of course, one of the most compelling reasons to join is to keep high rents in check – and find out if you could be eligible for a reduction.

How can a Mieterverein help lower my rent?

Though it may not always feel like it, the vast majority of areas with a tight housing situation in Germany are subject to fairly stringent rental controls, known as the Mietpreisbremse.

These controls were mandated in a 2015 law that has recently been extended to 2029. Though there are some loopholes, the rules generally dictate that cold rents should be no more than 10 percent above the average rent for comparable properties in the same neighbourhood.

READ ALSO: German rent brake to be extended until 2029: What you need to know

The ways for calculating this are complicated but all you really need to know is that they are based on something called the Mietspiegel: a huge table charting the average rent prices based on factors like a property’s size, location, age and facilities.

Berlin prenzlauer Berg

Flats in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Monika Skolimowska

One service tenants’ associations can offer is to compare your rent against the Mietspiegel to see if you’re being charged too much.

To do this, they’ll look at your contract and ask you a series of questions about your rental property. If it turns out the rent is illegally high, Mieterverein lawyers can help you draft a letter to officially challenge your rent and ask for it to be reduced.

Some tenants’ associations also offer legal protection insurance (Rechtsschutzversicherung) as part of their memberships, which can help you deal with any issues that may arise with the landlord later on.

What about annual rent increases?

In most cases, these can be disputed as well. Under the Mietpreisbremse rules, rents can be raised by a maximum of 20 percent in the space of three years. This can be good grounds to challenge a big annual increase in rent – but it isn’t the only way.

The legal representatives at your local Mieterverein will be able to help you dispute increases in rent, as long as you don’t agree to these increases straight away.

Once again, the increases may be based on a shaky foundation of illegally high rents to start with, so it’s always worth getting everything checked over in full by a qualified lawyer.

It’s also worth keeping an eye on any issues with your apartment, such as broken fixtures and fittings, because these can be grounds for a rent reduction until the problem is fixed.

READ ALSO: How to get a rent reduction for problems in your German flat

Advisors at the Mietervereine will not only be able to tell you what are grounds for a Mietminderung (temporary rent reduction), but also how much you could be entitled to.

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