Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) announced that, amid the debate over the proposed Heating Law, new measures will also be introduced to safeguard tenants from rising costs. “We are working intensively to translate the key points of the new Building Modernisation Act into concrete legislation” Hubig told the “Rheinische Post” on Saturday. “It is clear that this law will explicitly stand in support of tenant protection” she added. “More than half of our population rents, and they must be protected from inflated ancillary costs. It cannot be that tenants alone bear the escalating energy bill. Heating must not become a cost trap” the SPD politician warned.
The draft Building Modernisation Act would eliminate the mandatory requirement that at least 65 % of heating fuel in new buildings be renewable. Instead, new oil and gas boilers would be obliged to consume a growing share of biogas or synthetic fuels. Critics argue that this change could undermine climate protection and burden renters, as tenants have no influence over the heating choice in buildings, and biogas and synthetic fuels are typically more expensive than fossil fuels.
By Easter the federal government expects to present a draft of the Building Modernisation Act to the cabinet. Provisions protecting tenants will be codified at the same time as the heating amendment to the Civil Code (BGB).