Berlin, Germany – The German Bundestag has extended the rent brake until the end of 2029, with the support of the coalition parties Union and SPD, as well as the Green party’s faction. The AfD’s faction voted against the extension, while the Left party’s faction abstained.
The rent brake allows regional governments to designate areas with tight housing markets, where rent increases are significantly higher than the national average or where the average rent burden of households exceeds the national average. In these designated areas, the rent for new tenancies can only be increased by a maximum of 10 percent above the local comparative rent.
Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, of the SPD, stated that “tenants need protection from an unbridled rent increase.” The minister added that the extension was decided quickly and that further changes to rent law have been agreed upon in the coalition agreement. Hubig announced that more packages will be brought forward to improve tenant protection, including index-linked rents, furnished apartments and the expansion of regulations on payment of security deposits.
The Left party, however, criticized the rent brake as insufficient. “If the federal government refuses to implement simple and effective solutions like a rent cap, it should at least make the rent brake more stringent” said Left party leader Jan van Aken. “We need rent surveys that take into account all rents in the area, not just those of recent years. This way, the rising rents of recent years will not push future rents even higher.