Germany plans three-year rent freeze for tenants in an attempt to ease the strain of the cost of living crisis on tenants
by TheTelegraph
Germany plans three-year rent freeze for tenants in an attempt to ease the strain of the cost of living crisis on tenants
by TheTelegraph
3 comments
**From The Telegraph’s Tim Wallace:**
Olaf Scholz is considering imposing a three-year rent freeze on Germany’s landlords as his ruling Social Democratic party attempts to ease the strain of the cost of living crisis on tenants.
Landlords could be forced to repay rents deemed “usurious”, if the rate charged is more than 20pc above the typical local level, in areas with limited supplies of homes.
Rules already in place to limit rent rises will also be tightened, under the plans, as furnished apartments and homes let for temporary use are not always covered by the restrictions.
Verena Hubertz, a senior SDP politician, told the German national Bild am Sonntag: “We need a breather for tenants – we need a rent freeze for the next three years”.
The party’s parliamentarians are meeting on Monday to hammer out new policies to cut living costs, with rents on the agenda.
The measure is on the table “in view of the enormous rent increases in recent years and the drastically increasing ancillary and heating costs caused by the war,” Ms Hubertz said.
Of Germany’s 41 million households, almost half live in rented accommodation, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
Just over a fifth own their own home, the OECD found.
Official statistics show that the average tenant household spent almost 28pc of their income on rents last year.
**Read more ⤵️**
[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/germany-plans-three-year-rent-freeze-for-tenants/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/28/germany-plans-three-year-rent-freeze-for-tenants/)
Another bandaid that won’t fix the housing problem.
The prime minister here in Portugal proposed something similar, but the president vetoed it.