Europe’s largest residential landlord is set to lose €8.4bn (£7bn) as a result of plans by leftwing political party Die Linke to bring more than 140,000 Berlin flats into public ownership.

The real estate company Vonovia, which owns roughly 130,000 apartments in the city and 528,000 across Europe, would be the most affected by the plans, with 120,000 of its apartments set to be put into public ownership.

Die Linke, which won Berlin’s state elections in September, has agreed to talks with the city’s Greens and Social Democrats as part of plans to transfer ownership of flats from companies that own more than 10,000 apartments, with the legislation scheduled to be brought forward in 2028.

Excuse me, but why do we allow companies to own flats at all? Let alone a staggering 10 000 of them? What a joke.

Tbh I doubt this legislation will go through. These firms havevtoo much money to not squash it in some way. Still, it's good they are trying.