The temporary furnished rental of apartments in milieu protection areas constitutes a change of use requiring approval, provided that the living space was previously rented out permanently. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Berlin last week.
The owner of a residential building in Berlin-Neukölln, which is located in a milieu protection area, had sued against the permit requirement. The plaintiff rents out 15 residential units there for periods of at least three to a maximum of twelve months. In doing so, it offers some single rooms and some entire apartments for a fixed price, which also includes WLAN, heating and operating costs as well as furniture.
By decision of 22 December 2025, the Neukölln district office prohibited the plaintiff from renting out the apartments on a temporary basis. This represents a different use of the apartments compared to the previous indefinite rental. Therefore, there is a legally significant change of use, for which a special permit under milieu protection law is required. The plaintiff objects to this. It claims that the apartments will continue to be used for residential purposes and therefore no approval under milieu protection law is required.
The 19th Chamber of the Administrative Court dismissed the action. The district is allowed to prohibit furnished rentals for a limited period of time, as practiced by the plaintiff. In principle, this is suitable for displacing the resident population. “This is because the apartments rented out according to their business model are no longer available to households with children and low-income households that characterize the specific milieu protection area. In this respect, the change of use has a displacing effect and runs counter to the objectives of the Milieu Protection Ordinance,” the court argues.
“The court argues that the question of whether the temporary rental of furnished apartments is covered by building planning law does not play a role in terms of milieu protection law. It thus also names the point at which the ruling is likely to be contestable,” says Uwe Bottermann, lawyer and partner at the law firm Bottermann::Khorrami. “After all, people continue to live in the apartments. From my point of view, the effects of temporary renting on existing tenancies in the milieu protection area would have to be reviewed and it would have to be proven that the temporary rental actually has a change effect before the property right is encroached upon.”
“Instead of questioning the hypothetical basic assumptions of administrative action, the ruling points the way to further restrictions on temporary rentals. In addition, in addition to prohibition orders, there is now also the threat of severe fines,” Bottermann continues.
