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Department of Social Sciences
Project funded by the German Research Association

Private small-scale landlords in Germany: social situations, attitudes and action patterns

As the largest group of housing providers in Germany, it is surprising that there is little known about small-scale landlords, even in times of heated public debate on rising rents and their social consequences, including inequality dynamics. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the settings, motives, challenges and attitudes that characterise landlords in their respective social situation.

Our interst: In our mixed-method research, we observe the largest provider group of dwellings in Germany: private small-scale landlords. The study aims to identify their

  • motives,
  • experiences, routines and challenges,
  • (housing) attitudes and
  • perceptions of the landlords’ role.

Our perspective: From an inequality perspective, we want to identify various types of landlords regarding their social position and letting conditions. This allows us to move beyond the narrow confines of the landlord stereotype, which often depicts them as either greedy or bad. It also challenges the assumption that letting is a poverty-avoidance strategy for the elderly. Our research is framed by conflict theory. We see tenancy as a relationship of dependency that is interwoven with the constitution of structures of inequality. In addition, we contribute to the research on specific wealth components and their practical social meanings in day-to-day life.

Our methods: Besides qualitative, guideline-based interviews, we evaluate various quantitative secondary data sets (Socio-Economic Panel, Household and Financial Consumption Survey) and create our own questionnaire for the GESIS panel. Above that,  a document analysis is conducted.

 

News

As part of our project work, we designed a questionnaire module on landlords' attitudes towards housing policies in Germany. This has now successfully completed the review process at the GESIS Panel (type: regular submission). Our questions (e.g. regarding state rent control or incentives for new construction) will be included in the wave "md" in November/December 2025. The resulting quantitative data will provide insight not only into preferred housing policy measures, but also into landlord-specific positions, such as their views on the causes of the current housing crisis. More information will follow.

 

Research Team

Head Prof. Dr. Nicole Burzan
Responsible research associate Dr. Philipp Kadelke
Student assistant Claudio Möller


 

Publications

2024 Kadelke, Philipp: At home in the upper strata: social positions of small-scale landlords in a European cross-country perspective. Culture, Practice & Europeanization, 9 (1), 66–90. Link
2023 Kadelke, Philipp: Private Kleinvermieter*innen in Deutschland. Ein Sozialprofil der größten Anbietergruppe auf dem Mietwohnungsmarkt. Easy Social Sciences (GESIS), Mixed , 1–11. Link
2023 Kadelke, Philipp: Landlords vs tenants = top vs bottom? Class positions in rental housing in Germany. Critical Housing Analysis, 10 (1), 66–76. Link
2023 Kadelke, Philipp: Private Vermieter*innen in Deutschland: Kleine Gruppe mit großer Wirkung, in: Villa Braslavsky, P.-I. (Ed.): Polarisierte Welten: 41. Kongresses der DGS 2022. Link

 

Submitted

07/2025 Kadelke, Philipp; Burzan, Nicole: Das Mietverhältnis als Klassenverhältnis? Eine konzeptionelle Schärfung des Klassenkonzeptes am Beispiel des Mietwohnens. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie.
07/2025 Kadelke, Philipp: Beyond legal asymmetry: economic disparities between small-scale landlords and tenants in Europe and their potential housing significance. In: Housing, Theory and Society.


 

Presentations

2025 New Cultural Geography (Augsburg): "Same but differnt: Gepflegte Feindbilder beim Mietwohnen von oben und unten" Link
2025 Weimarer Immobilienrechtstage (Weimar): "Wohnen zur Miete in Deutschland aus einer (ungleichheits-)soziologischen Perspektive" Link
2025 Konferenz der DGS-Sektionen Sozialpolitik und Soziale Ungleichheit (Bamberg): "Im Namen des (Ver-)Mieters? Ungleichheit und Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs im Mietrecht" Link
2024 Sektionenkonferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (Osnabrück): "Wohnabhängig statt lohnabhängig: Das Mietverhältnis als Klassenverhältnis?" Link
2023 62. Deutscher Kongress für Geografie 2023 (Frankfurt am Main): "Wer enteignet Familie Stuck? Die stille Macht privater Kleinvermieter*innen von Wohnraum in Deutschland" Link
2022 41. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2022 (Bielefeld): "Private Vermieter*innen in Deutschland: Kleine Gruppe mit großer Wirkung?" Link