Global InformationAkelius information
 | |
| Company type | Aktiebolag |
|---|---|
| Industry | Real estate |
| Founder | Roger Akelius |
| Headquarters | Stockholm , Sweden |
Key people | Ralf Spann, CEO |
| Website | https://www.akelius.com/ |
Akelius Residential Property AB (Akelius Fastigheter until spring 2014) is an international residential real-estate company registered in Sweden. Akelius Residential Property owns nineteen thousand rental apartments in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Austin, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Paris, and London.
The main shareholder of Akelius Residential Property AB is the Akelius Foundation with 85 percent, whose founder is the Swedish founder Akelius AB, Roger Akelius.[1] The foundation is registered as a non-profit organization in the Bahamas.[2] The foundation is listed in the ICIJ's offshore leaks database.[3]
The company reacted to the Berlin government's rent cap in 2020 by adding "shadow rents" on leases, some of which were five times higher than the listed rent, which were to be paid retrospectively if the law were not to endure.[4] The rent cap was ruled unconstitutional in 2021; Akelius stated that they sought to reclaim the excess money from tenants.[5] In response, the Berlin government provided a €10 million fund of interest-free loans to tenants struggling to make repayments.[6]
In April 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Council accused Akelius of human rights abuses.[7][8] The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing claimed that the company practiced renovictions to circumvent rent-control regulations and left residents living in unsafe construction sites for months, sometimes without access to running water or central heating.[8][9]
| city[10] | number of residential units |
|---|---|
| London | 2,228 |
| Paris | 1,563 |
| Toronto | 4,283 |
| Montreal | 4,076 |
| Boston | 1,029 |
| New York | 1,745 |
| Washington, D.C. | 2,610 |
| Austin | 861 |
- ^ "Akelius - Über". www.akelius.com (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-28.
- ^ "Akelius Foundation - the Foundation". foundation.akelius.de. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ "AKELIUS FOUNDATION | ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database". offshoreleaks.icij.org. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ Šustr, Nicolas. "Akelius wants to cash in". www.nd-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ Goodman, Imogen (2021-04-25). "'Extraordinary situation': What can you do if your Berlin landlord demands rent cap arrears?". The Local Germany. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ "The Enduring Legacy of Berlin's Rent Cap". tribunemag.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ Smee, Michael (May 11, 2020). "UN accuses Toronto apartment owner of human rights abuses". CBC News. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
- ^ a b "OHCHR | Corporate landlord is abusing tenants' human rights, says UN housing expert". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
- ^ "Akelius tenants say a cold water shortage lasted months". NOW Magazine. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
- ^ "Wohnungshai oder Wohltäter?". Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-28.