Summer series “In the shadows” (8): Houses come to the advertising column

Oversized advertising posters are in vogue. For the residents of affected houses, this is hell – especially in the sweltering summer.

No light, no air, no joy: behind huge advertising posters, life is more than modest – here in Sonnenallee Photo: Handelmann/imago

Berlin taz | The shadowy existence is over, at least for the residents of an apartment building on Warschauer Strasse in Friedrichshain. A group of muscular scaffolders pull a huge white airplane off the scaffolding, fold it up and stow it on the loading area of ​​a truck. Six giant posters adorn the entire facade of the corner building. Sometimes for the delivery service Uber Eats, sometimes for the latest iPhone, sometimes for a current movie. “The tarpaulin hardly let any air into the apartment,” complains one resident who taz spoke to. He had rented the apartment specifically because of the balcony.

The owners of the Asian restaurant were also annoyed by the huge facade advertising; significantly fewer customers had come into the shop because of the scaffolding. To counteract the loss of guests, the shop advertised a construction discount of 10 percent – ​​but this didn’t really work, as an employee of the taz says.

Oversized facade advertising is a trend in Berlin. For years, buildings in which people live have also been covered. The business of giant posters is particularly profitable in prominent locations. So much so that the already lax regulations are often ignored. Much to the chagrin of residents, who have to endure months of darkness, blocked views and stagnant air.

Sebastian Bartels, the managing director of the Berlin Tenants’ Association, has been following the problem for a long time. Tenants keep coming to the advice center because they suddenly find themselves in a dark apartment. “In many cases, the advertisements are still lit up at night.” “That’s an imposition,” says Bartels. In addition, there is something particularly humiliating about your own four walls becoming an advertising column. “That’s really absurd. It’s an apartment, not an advertising space.”

The logic behind the regulation

But in most cases, it is legally possible to attach the giant poster. The prerequisite is that construction work is actually being carried out on the facade, which requires both scaffolding and a dust protection tarpaulin. However, this must not be “unusually non-transparent”, as stated in a 2021 circular from the Senate Department for Urban Development to the district building inspectors. The logic behind the regulation: If an airplane has to be attached to the scaffolding anyway, then it can also be an airplane with advertising.

The building regulations stipulate a maximum approval period of six months. Even if the work on the facade takes longer, the advertising must be removed. Otherwise, the building inspectorate threatens to impose fines and removal orders.

On paper, the regulations sound sensible. But in practice, they leave a lot of room for abuse. The motivation for owners not to take the regulations too seriously is high. Advertising agencies can earn up to 250,000 euros per month for a giant poster that fills a facade in a prominent location. The potential advertising revenue is likely to significantly exceed the rental income for some properties.

In many cases, it is difficult to verify whether the construction work is actually necessary or not. As in the case of the house on Warschauer Strasse. Only a few years ago, the property was completely renovated after a fire and the attic was converted. The apartments were divided into furnished individual apartments, which are rented out by a company for a hefty price per square meter.

Most of the time it was quiet on the scaffolding

Construction workers were rarely seen on the scaffolding, but they did exist, as one resident confirmed to taz. However, it was mostly quiet. When workers came, they only stayed for a few hours. The fact that the estimated construction time corresponds exactly to the maximum duration that can be approved is skeptical.

“A six-month scaffolding standstill is normal and appropriate for the extensive work being carried out by various trades. “The duration of the work is not objectionable and is based solely on the construction time,” the lawyer for the owner of the property told taz in response to a query. Since the building is an old building, it is not unusual that adjustment work still has to be carried out after a major renovation with roof extension. All regulations must be complied with.

That is not always the case, says Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf’s building councillor Christoph Brzezinski (CDU) to the taz: “From the district office’s point of view, construction work was faked in the past in order to enable scaffolding to be erected with advertising.” In Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the district office also reports attempts to erect scaffolding without being able to prove that construction work had taken place. There were one or two applications, but these were withdrawn “after proof of the commissioning of the facade work was requested.”

In most cases, however, the districts have no choice but to approve the scaffolding. “It’s amazing how often you can build the same facade,” says Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf’s environmental councillor Oliver Schruoffeneger of the Greens to the taz.

The fines deter very few

In many cases, the advertising remained up for longer than six months. This is a criminal offense, but the revenue more than offsets the fines. And it can take a few more months before a poster is removed. “The fines are petty cash,” says Schruoffeneger. That would scare very few people off.

“The rules are too lax,” says Sebastian Bartels. For more than six years, his tenants’ association has been calling for them to be tightened, but little has happened so far. In 2021, the House of Representatives decided to regulate facade advertising more strictly. The only result of the decision: the aforementioned circular from the Senate Department for City Administration, in which the building inspectors were informed about the applicable law.

The black-red Senate also shows no interest in stricter regulation. “The regulation of the building code has proven its worth,” says a response from the office of Urban Development Senator Christian Gaebler (SPD) published in July to a parliamentary question from Left Party MP Katalin Gennburg.

The outlook is also bleak for all tenants who are unlucky enough to have their house serve as a good advertising canvas. Despite the inaction of politicians, tenants are not completely helpless. One option is to enforce the right to a rent reduction. This must be freely negotiated individually or, in extreme cases, fought out in court. It makes sense to base your decision on comparable court rulings. Sebastian Bartels considers a “rent reduction of 5 to 15 percent” to be normal.

An injunction is even tougher. Section 1004 of the German Civil Code grants owners a “right to removal and injunctive relief” if their property is disturbed. “Tenants have the same right to the apartment as owners,” says Bartels. If the quality of the apartment is reduced by an unjustified giant poster, a lawsuit could be successful. “The Berlin Tenants’ Association encourages people to fight back,” says Sebastian Bartels.