exclusive
Dilapidated apartments, a lack of repairs and a landlord who doesn’t care: tenants all over Germany are suffering from the insolvency of the real estate company Omega AG. The case shines a spotlight on real estate speculators.
Tenants in a residential building in Oldenburg have had to freeze for months. Kathi A., who doesn’t want to give her full name, makes do with fan heaters, electric blankets and hot water bottles. But it is stressful “to know that when I come home it will be dark and cold, almost as cold as outside.”
The heating has been broken since a water pipe burst in November. Kathi A. and her neighbors informed their landlord, but nothing happened. “We’ve been waiting for a response for months.” There have been problems since the summer of 2023 when the garbage suddenly stopped being picked up. Then came threats from the utility to turn off the water and electricity in common areas such as the stairwell.
Tenants suffer from adverse circumstances not only in Oldenburg, but throughout Germany. In Osterholz-Scharmbeck, the garbage attracted rats and vermin. In Dannenberg, old power lines are so dilapidated that there would be a risk of fire if the electricity meters were urgently replaced. In Mainz, elderly and disabled people can no longer leave their apartments because the elevator is broken.
Behind all of these cases is the Munich real estate company Omega AG, which is divided into many subsidiaries and has apparently miscalculated.
Omega AG’s imbalance
Everything had started very promisingly: in 2010, at the beginning of the real estate boom in Germany, businessman Ralph Reinhold began buying up apartments in Germany, often in less attractive locations and in poor condition. Local banks such as savings banks and Volksbanks issued loans to Omega AG. The company’s portfolio grew rapidly, and in the end the company owned more than 5,500 apartments throughout Germany.
But then the fall came. After years of low interest rate policy, the European Central Bank gradually raised the key interest rate to 4.5 percent from mid-2022. The result: less demand on the real estate market and real estate prices fell. Reinhold and Omega AG came under pressure and the company accumulated several million euros in debt. His real estate increasingly lost value. At the same time, refinancing became increasingly expensive and short-term. The company ran into payment difficulties, more and more invoices were not paid, and problems grew in the rental properties.
For Steffen Sebastian, professor of real estate financing at the University of Regensburg, Omega AG is a clear case of how a company overtakes itself. “If you buy at peak prices at such a time, you can’t just wait three weeks and sell again. You have to check the inventory, optimize it and find potential.”
A new investor
But all of this became increasingly difficult. Reinhold is said to have already prepared for bankruptcy at the end of 2023. But then a new investor came onto the scene, the Whitefield group of companies.
The German-Turkish investment company bought the majority of Omega AG in June 2023, reportedly for a symbolic amount of euros. It immediately announces new acquisitions. Behind the company is Aydin Tasci, who hardly anyone on the real estate market knows. The businessman has a history: Tasci was legally convicted by the Leipzig district court at the beginning of 2023 for delaying insolvency.
For tenants the nightmare continues
Research by NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” show how ruthlessly Tasci dealt with the needs of the tenants. When asked by employees in a meeting how to deal with the accrued bills for tradesmen, Tasci replied that they should simply do the “Turkish filing.” So throw everything away and start over. The astonishment in the group was great. But Tasci was obviously serious. The invoices should simply be put in the shredder, he emphasized. This is what several employees remember.
Tasci’s plan, he is said to have said in the meeting: He wanted to sell everything and use the proceeds to buy new apartments. Upon request from NDR and SZ Tasci does not comment. The former managing director Reinhold claims to have known nothing about Tasci’s previous conviction. He told a PR consultant that he was sorry for the tenants’ situation.
Suspicion of the Delaying bankruptcy
If a company is in financial difficulties, it must file for bankruptcy as soon as possible. That didn’t happen at Omega AG. In December 2023, the creditor banks filed for bankruptcy. At the same time, Omega AG changed its name to Amina AG and moved its headquarters from Munich to Nordenham on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony.
The business address is in a Hessian province. There is only an empty supermarket and a collection mailbox on site. The real estate empire has apparently become a shell company.
The provisional insolvency administrator Matthias Hofmann says that Omega AG “had its back against the wall” as early as mid-2022. He assumes that the criminal offense of delaying insolvency “will become an issue here in a number of cases”. The accounts were empty, “there was nothing at Omega AG.”
Uncertain future for tenants
It is unclear what will happen next for the tenants. Insolvency administrator Hofmann sees a quick sale of the properties as the best solution. He can only tackle the most urgent things at first, but “with empty coffers I can’t solve all the problems straight away.” This could take weeks or months.
Kathi A. in Oldenburg has given up hope that her living situation will improve. What remains is disappointment and anger. “I don’t think they realize that in probably every single one of these properties there are several parties living with people who have to pack up their existence and move on if the house collapses because it wasn’t taken care of.” She found a new apartment. Others have to stay and hope that the speculators’ game doesn’t start again.
You can watch a detailed television report on Panorama 3 research at any time in the ARD media library view.