Members of the Friedel Strasse 54 cooperative protest the enforced closure of Berlins legendary M99 corner shop . Photograph: NurPhoto via Getty Images
The milieuschutz laws are far from new some German cities began implementing them more than 40 years ago but their spread has never been as rapid as now: a time of unprecedented real estate price rises.
In areas protected by the law, owners are forbidden from changing floor plans, merging two flats into one or splitting large flats up into several, adding balconies or terraces larger than four square metres, installing fitted kitchens or undertaking luxury bathroom renovations or using the flat as a holiday let.
We have been seeing a rapid increase in such modifications being carried out, says Andreas Haltermann of the Tenants Alliance, primarily so landlords can increase the rent sometimes to an extortionate level with the intention of pushing existing residents out, so they can either sell the flat or rent it out at a much higher rate.
Haltermann claims the milieuschutz which was passed by the Neuklln government in its most urgent areas in the new year, and finally came into full force this summer has already prevented planning permission on several building projects.
Were aware that property companies are capable of many tricks to get conversions through regardless, he says, but we have bureaucrats on our side who are at least going to make their lives as difficult as possible, and hopefully slow down the process so much that large investors are put off buying here.
Martin, a 49-year-old arts promoter, is reluctant to give his full name because he is still in legal dispute with a Spanish businessman who recently bought the building in which he has lived with his wife for 12 years. Martin says the milieuschutz has so far ensured the string of modernisation measures the new owner wanted to carry out were not allowed to happen.
He wanted to put in under-floor heating, to change the floor plans, to insulate the walls, to install solar panels you name it, he says. The measures would apparently have led to a more-than-threefold increase in his rent, from 600 to 2,000. My wife and I both work, so we might have been able to afford it but for our neighbour it would have meant paying 85% of her wages towards rent. She would have been forced out.
Martin is relieved his neighbourhood building inspectorate warned the owner that the upcoming milieuschutz would mean he could not carry out the measures. You feel safe and secure when it is your own local authority that steps in and says that for you, rather than you having to fight the fight yourself, he adds, at the same time admitting the legal fight is far from over.
Of course, Germany is very much a renters market, with 85% of people renting and sympathy for property owners not typically uppermost. Rent rises are, in theory, capped the longer someone has lived somewhere, the lower their rent is and the more rights they have.
But if the owner upgrades the property, he is able to offset a considerable chunk of those costs on to the rent. Long-term, sociologists warn, this is likely to water down the healthy social mix in neighbourhoods that city residents often cite as one of the reasons life in Berlin is so pleasant and relaxed.
I dont want to go
The milieuschutz has done little to help the residents of Lenaustrasse 23 and Hobrechtstrasse 62, known collectively as Lebrecht 2362 , in Neuklln. On the day the Guardian visits, the new owner of the buildings, a Berlin developer, has sent his own inspector to compile an inventory of the 30-or-so apartments, ahead of a planned luxury upgrade.
Henry, a social worker, nervously shows the inspector around his quirkily decorated flat, painted in shades of green, turquoise and yellow and with a sign above the toilet which reads: Free your mind and your arse will follow.
Ive lived here for 21 years, Henry says. Im quite happy with how it is. I dont want to go, but I fear I might have to.
Neukllns Schiller Backstube bakery was vandalised by a group protesting rising rents and gentrification of the neighbourhood. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty
Henrys neighbour Simi, a cabaret artist who is here to give him moral support, says: We need to fight for Berlin for the fact this is a city where lots of different people from different walks of life can live under the same roof.
Sven Theinert, a manager and spokesman for the renters who lives on the second floor, says: We would like to have been able to rely on the milieuschutz , but the local authorities gave permission for these flats to be converted into owner-occupied flats before it could even kick in.
As far as were concerned, the milieuschutz is toothless in the fight against the investors will as long as the politicians are not behind it. Look at the number of lifts that are being installed in 19th-century buildings across the district. That speaks volumes for just how effective it is.
Theinert says the residents have tried talking to the new owners: Weve told them were ready to go along with the modernisation measures, that well take rental rises on the chin within reason but we just dont want the luxury refit theyre planning.
Criticism of the milieuschutz has also come from the home owners association Haus & Grund (House and Land), which has accused the authorities of taking away from people the chance to buy, at a time when it has never been so easy to secure provision for old age due to the low borrowing costs.
Meanwhile the Chamber of Industry and Commerce has described the measures as a renewed attack on the ownership rights of property owners, which is having a detrimental effect on the investment climate in the city without doing anything to keep rents under control on a mid-term basis.
Graffiti on the outside wall of Friedel Strasse 54 . Photograph: Kate Connolly for the Guardian
Back at Friedel Strasse 54, Sander the teacher sits amid graffiti reading Were here to stay and No bling in the hood. He demonstrates how the owners tried to prove the facade was damaged enough to merit an expensive and, according to him, superfluous energy-saving insulation procedure. But this house has been standing since the 19th century, and its walls are 60 centimetres thick. Its absurd.
A court blocked the new owners attempts to prettify the courtyard with a new shed for the rubbish bins, and by insulating the walls. But Sander was forced to accept the installation of central heating in the flat he shares with his two children.
At least he managed to save from demolition the ceramic stove which is as old as the flat itself, but which the investors wanted to tear out.
Some might consider it old fashioned, but its part of the 19th-century allure of the place and produces a beautiful heat, Sander says. The fact I managed to persuade the court to let me keep it feels like a small victory at least even while the bigger threat still looms.
Are you experiencing or resisting gentrification in your city? Share your stories in the comments below, through our dedicated callout , or on Twitter using #GlobalGentrification