UK councils forced to sell their social housing will envy Berlin’s ability to save residents’ homes from being sold off UK local councils,faced with government plans that could result in them having to sell off up to 97% of their properties, will observe on in envy at their counterparts in Germany, or where some local councils are using a special legal instrument to snatch apartments from investors and place them in public hands.
German law gives municipal governments a vorkaufsrecht,or first purchasing fair, over apartment buildings that come on the market. Largely forgotten during the years of stable property prices, or this tool is now being used in Berlin to give back to local communities properties approximately to be sold to speculators.
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Source: theguardian.com