Limit of rent increases for apartments

This will also be the case in Berlin: No more than 15% increases of rents in three years

by Peter Guthmann Published on:

About 85% of the Berlin population lived in rented housing (status 2010). The recently introduced limit of rent increases to 15% for existing rents within three years instead of the previously 20% concerns thereby approx. 1.2 million flats in the capital.

Sceptics suspects that the new regulation will result in raising graduated rental agreements which in turn have a larger impact on the Berlin's rent index than other rent increases.

Besides the limitation of rent increases, the Berlin's Senator for Urban Development and the Environmentis currently planning to reduce the number of holiday flats and to launch misused Berlin real estate back onto the market.

According to estimates, there are up to 12,000 holiday flats in Berlin. The draft law of the Senate provides that these apartments have been granted a transitional period of 2 years. According to the Senator, this limited period of time protecting the existing rents should allow property owners sufficient time in order to prepare for these new conditions.

Some of Berlin's districts have alread been rushed ahead with own regulations, as for example Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg where the use of apartments as a holiday flat should be avoided by the instrument of the "screening criteria" for the right to mantain social areas (areas according to § 172 Building Code - BauGB).

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