Forced to Live with Strangers. an Exploration of Subletting Practices in Berlin in Times of Housing Crisis

Berlin has experienced an increase in rental prices between of more than 100 per cent 2013 and 2023, and a dramatic decrease in available housing units over the same period. Given the city's ongoing housing crisis, subletting has become an important form of housing to gain access to the tight market and a strategy to afford rising rents. Often, tenants spent periods of up to more than a year in various short-term sublets until they found a permanent housing solution. This sub-market is particularly important for low-income groups who want to live in inner-city areas. In most of the documented cases, the sublets were arranged informally and did not meet the requirements of German tenancy and registration laws. The proposed paper will examine the resulting co-housing arrangements, focusing on three aspects: First, we will discuss the power-laden relationships between main tenants and subtenants and the problems of liability and legitimacy of informal rental arrangements both sides face. Secondly, the potentially conflicting motivations for subletting and living in sublets will be explored, and thirdly, the related tensions between long-term co-living arrangements and short-term stays in flats will be addressed, considering both their interpersonal and material aspects.

The presentation will contextualise these findings against the background of current debates on housing precarity and informal housing in European cities. The analysis is based on 41 interviews with main tenants and subtenants conducted in Berlin between September 2023 and March 2024, and an analysis of media coverage on the topic since 2022.