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Department of Social Sciences
Four people are sitting at a desk writing something on a poster. There are also pencils and a cup on the table. © Pixabay
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.

 

Four little fishes and one big shark with houses on their backs

News

02 26 | New team member joins the project team

We are delighted to welcome new members to our project team. Starting in February 2026, Marie Bahr (Master's degree in Social Sustainability and Demographic Change) and Lorenzo Paciello (Master's degree in Sociology) will be joining us as student research assistants. They will primarily be responsible for carrying out important structuring and support work in the context of evaluating our qualitative interviews.

10 25 | Panel discussion on Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio station

In the podcast format ‘Wortwechsel’ (Word Exchange) by Deutschlandfunk Kultur in cooperation with the Volkswagen Foundation, Dr Philipp Kadelke, Undine Zimmer and Prof. Dr Oliver Holtemöller discuss social inequality, poverty and housing. The audio format can be found here, and the video format on YouTube here. 

09 25 | Quantitative primary survey of attitudes towards housing policy

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

HeadProf. Dr. Nicole Burzan
Responsible research associateDr. Philipp Kadelke
Student assistantClaudio Möller (04/24 - 11/25)

Marie Bahr (starting 02/26)

Lorenzo Paciello (starting 02/26)

Publications

2026Kadelke, Philipp: Die Mietwohnung als Unsicherheitsraum. Ungleiche Wohnsicherheitslagen entlang des Wohneigentums. In: Sowa, F.; Geiser-Krummenacher, M. G.; Meyer, T.; Runge, P.; Sellner, N.; Tissot, A. X.; Tsirikiotis, A. (Hrsg.): Fragile Behausungen. Prekäres Wohnen und Wohnungslosigkeit in Zeiten multipler Krisen. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, S. 620–639.Link
2026Kadelke, Philipp: Beyond legal asymmetrie: economic inequalities between small-scale landlords and tenants in Europe and housing configurations. Housing, Theory and Society, 46 (3), 369–388.Link
2024Kadelke, 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
2023Kadelke, Philipp: Private Kleinvermieter*innen in Deutschland. Ein Sozialprofil der größten Anbietergruppe auf dem Mietwohnungsmarkt. Easy Social Sciences (GESIS), Mixed , 1–11.Link
2023Kadelke, Philipp: Landlords vs tenants = top vs bottom? Class positions in rental housing in Germany. Critical Housing Analysis, 10 (1), 66–76.Link
2023Kadelke, 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

 

Completed/Submitted

01/2026Kadelke, Philipp: As good as their image? A multi-dimensional comparison of landlord types in Germany with a focus on small-scale landlord
07/2025Kadelke, Philipp; Burzan, Nicole: Das Mietverhältnis als Klassenverhältnis? Eine konzeptionelle Schärfung des Klassenkonzeptes am Beispiel des Mietwohnens

Presentations

2026Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (Mainz): “Die Gesichter unserer Städte: Zur stadträumlichen Rolle privater Kleinvermieter*innen”
2026Kongress der Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (Mainz): “Im Namen des Volkes – Eigentumsungleichheit in der Rechtsprechung im Mietrecht”
2026Bundesarbeitstagung Deutscher Mieterbund (Fulda): “Kein Markt wie jeder andere: Der Wohnungsmarkt im Spiegel sozialer Ungleichheit”
2026KonsortSWD Roundtable (GESIS) (Mannheim): “Maßgeblichkeit, Mehrwert und Messmöglichkeiten des Wohneigentumsstatus als Ungleichheitsdimension”
2025New Cultural Geography (Augsburg): “Umkämpftes Wohneigentum – Kontrastierende Framings von Wohnungslosenaktivist*innen und Privatvermieter*innen”
2025Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (Duisburg): “Mehr als nur ein Mietvertag: Gesellschaftliche Rückkopplungen des Mietwohnens”
2025Weimarer Immobilienrechtstage (Weimar): “Wohnen zur Miete in Deutschland aus einer (ungleichheits-)soziologischen Perspektive”
2025Konferenz der DGS-Sektionen Sozialpolitik und Soziale Ungleichheit (Bamberg): “Im Namen des (Ver-)Mieters? Ungleichheit und Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs im Mietrecht”
2024Sektionenkonferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie (Osnabrück): “Wohnabhängig statt lohnabhängig: Das Mietverhältnis als Klassenverhältnis?”
202362. Deutscher Kongress für Geografie 2023 (Frankfurt am Main): “Wer enteignet Familie Stuck? Die stille Macht privater Kleinvermieter*innen von Wohnraum in Deutschland”
202241. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie 2022 (Bielefeld): “Private Vermieter*innen in Deutschland: Kleine Gruppe mit großer Wirkung?”

Project duration

04/2024 - 03/2027 (36 months)

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