Enlarge image
The rent index is being reformed
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images / Future Image
The grand coalition has agreed on a reform of the rent index.
"The SPD has enforced that all communities with more than 50,000 inhabitants will have to draw up a rent index in the future," said the SPD politician Johannes Fechner.
The Union faction confirmed an agreement.
The "Handelsblatt" reported on it first.
In the past, landlords have often attacked the basis for calculating rent indexes, said Fechner.
"That is why we are now also regulating clear guidelines for the creation of rent indexes." This is intended to prevent excessive rent increases and create legal certainty for tenants and landlords, said Fechner.
The result of the negotiations is an improvement for tenants, as they can now easily calculate the local comparative rent and thus use their rights against excessive increases.
For the Union it was important that the rent index reflect the market and are free from political manipulation, said the CDU member Jan-Marco Luczak.
"For us as a Union it was therefore clear that rent indexes must not degenerate into political control instruments, otherwise they would be mere distorting mirrors and would lose their acceptance and thus their satisfactory effect."
Rent indexes are used to determine the local comparative rent.
In this way, rent increases are justified and permissible rents are determined when moving to an area with a rental price limit.
In the past there was often criticism of the informative value of rent indexes.
hba / dpa