The municipal council passed a bureaucracy monster with the social preservation statute for the Karlsruhe Südstadt, so the municipal council group of the free voters and the voter group FÜR Karlsruhe sees it. Contrary to the idea of the city council group of a lighter preservation statute, which would have saved a lot of bureaucracy for citizens, but also for the city administration, the municipal council decided in favor of the presented form. The proposal to limit the term of the statute to three years also failed to find a majority. Concerns arose after internal review criteria became known, indicating that apartment owners in the Südstadt would have to obtain permission as soon as they wanted to lay a new floor or install a second sink, for example – “no matter how extensive or necessary the construction project, you’re faced with a mountain of permits and requirements,” explained Friedemann Kalmbach, chairman of the municipal council group.
Originally, the social preservation statute was intended to prevent real estate speculators from buying up apartments, refurbishing them in a noble manner, and renting them on for significantly more money. This would gradually displace the established citizenry from the area, also called gentrification. The preservation statute, which was intended for so-called “real estate sharks,” will now be applied to all apartment owners in the area: “That the people of Südstadt are now confronted with the same challenges as real estate sharks is an absurdity. In its current form, the social preservation statute will only pass the practical test to a limited extent: Large investors will have a harder time, but so will residents,” complains Kalmbach. It is also unclear whether the misdemeanor procedures for not following the rules will be an obstacle for investors, or the easier way.
“The consequences for the Südstadt and the test criteria should have been communicated to the broad citizenry before implementing the statute – instead of publishing them afterwards, as has now been decided,” summarizes the municipal council group of Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe.
In addition to the Freie Wähler and FÜR Karlsruhe, the CDU, AfD and KAL city councillors voted against the statute in its current form. According to the result of the vote, many municipal council groups were not aware of these consequences: the majority of the municipal council from the Green Party, SPD, Left Party and FDP voted in favor of the statute, which will now occupy administration and the Südstadt.
