The Federal Working Group for Homeless Aid (BAGW) expects that the proposed changes to the tenancy law will provide greater protection against homelessness.
“By enacting the planned amendment, the legislature will clarify that the settlement of rent arrears covers both types of termination – extraordinary and, where necessary, regular termination” said BAGW managing director Sabine Bösing in an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. “Only through this can unnecessary evictions and court disputes be avoided, and a preventive safeguard against homelessness be established”.
Bösing referred specifically to the planned adjustments to the so‑called grace‑period regulation. Tenants who receive a regular termination due to unpaid rent will be allowed to stay in their homes once, if they pay the overdue rent within a specified period. “It cannot be that tenants, who have cleared their debts, must live in uncertainty about whether their tenancy actually continues” she said.
This stance contrasts with that of Kai Warnecke, president of the homeowners’ association Haus & Grund, who had previously asserted that extending the grace period to regular terminations would provide “no protection against homelessness”.