No quick end is in sight in the dispute over the confiscated villa of a well-known Arab clan in the Berlin district of Buckow. Both sides again declared settlement negotiations to have failed before the Neukölln district court on Tuesday.
The district of Neukölln has filed an eviction lawsuit against the family after they failed to vacate the building voluntarily by the end of October 2021. As a reason for the previous termination of the tenancy, the district cites in particular that the relationship of trust was disturbed because a forged tenancy agreement had been presented.
The family denies this and refers to agreements with an administrator who worked for the property. “My mother didn’t forge a lease. My mother was not guilty of anything that would justify this theatre,” said a family member on Tuesday during his testimony in front of the district court.
The 30-year-old cook says he lives in the house with his mother, three brothers and three sisters. His father and another sister used to live there too.
Everyone has to pay a proportionate rent, he said. According to his own statements, the 30-year-old has been making sure that the rent is paid to the district since February 2021. The tenant of the house is his mother. This is so today – and was so when the property was owned by a younger brother of the Witness.
[More on the subject on Tagesspiegel Plus: Villa bought with booty money. Eviction lawsuit against Remmo clan in Berlin]
The house and property now belong to the state of Berlin. Because the property is one of 77 properties that the Berlin public prosecutor’s office confiscated in 2018. According to the authorities, these were not bought with legal money. In the case of the villa in Buckow, there is a legally binding decision and, according to the district court, an entry was made in the land register in September 2020. The district of Neukölln is the municipality responsible for the house and property.
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According to the district, nothing had initially changed in the validity of the rental agreement for the villa as a result of the change of ownership. In connection with the dispute over the use of an adjacent property, however, the disputed rental agreement is said to have been submitted.
As a result, the district then fired the family and set a deadline of late October 2021 for them to move out. (dpa)
