Tenant protection working group starts work

The case of a residential property in the Kaiserleiviertel, in which around 150 people had to do without heating and hot water for weeks in the middle of the cold season and the private owner failed to repair fire damage and defective elevators, called the media and the Offenbach authorities onto the scene in the fall of 2025. For weeks, a task force made up of municipal offices and Energieversorgung Offenbach (EVO) worked together to restore adequate living conditions for the tenants who had innocently fallen into this situation. "The work of this task force will now be made permanent so that we can react more quickly to similarly drastic developments in future," says City Treasurer Martin Wilhelm, who took over the management of the task force set up by Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke and now intends to establish it as a permanent cross-departmental instrument of the city administration. "The new tenant protection task force began its work last week. From now on, it will meet regularly in order to take early action against owners who fail to meet their obligations and neglect the basic protection of their tenants, as was the case on Strahlenbergerstrasse."

The Strahlenbergerstrasse case attracted nationwide attention. The special circumstances and problems in this property - the large number of people affected, the lack of heat shortly before winter and the high debts of the owner company, including to the energy supplier and the city - prompted the city to take rather unusual steps: in November, it successfully applied to the Offenbach district court to place the property under forced administration. In view of the high level of debt, the city also applied for a forced sale. On January 14, 2026, preliminary insolvency proceedings were also opened for the company's assets at Cottbus district court. In the meantime, further cases have become known in other cities where the same responsible parties own similar problem properties.

"Strahlenbergerstrasse was undoubtedly an exceptional case under these circumstances," summarizes Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Planning and Construction. "The owner failed to act in response to repeated orders from the building inspectorate and reminders from EVO and the treasury. He simply did nothing and left the tenants to their fate. The city could not stand by and watch 150 people freeze in their apartments in winter without heating. That's why we had to react." In this context, however, it is important for Wilhelm and Weiß not to raise false expectations: "Of course, we know that there are also problems in other apartment buildings. But as a city, we can't generally get involved in private legal disputes." Mould infestation, for example, is often a point of contention between owners and tenants - the AG Mieterschutz will not be able to deal with such problems. In individual disputes with their landlords, those affected should contact tenant protection associations or a lawyer. "But if, as in the case of Strahlenbergerstrasse, it is a matter of the owners' fundamental neglect of their duties, such as the long-term failure to supply an entire building with heat or electricity, the tenant protection working group will take a closer look at the causes," Wilhelm makes clear: "Then we will examine the extent to which the city can take action here beyond the usual procedure by the building inspectorate and other authorities. To this end, all offices and authorities, utilities and politicians will sit at the same table."

The permanent members of the tenant protection working group include the building inspectorate and the treasury and tax office as well as EVO AG as the central energy supplier in Offenbach. If necessary, other offices, such as the Public Order Office or the Legal Office, Stadtservice and other utilities are consulted.