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Marco Buschmann: Skeptical about the regulation of index rents
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
"Index rents are a problem," said the co-leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katharina Dröge, just a few days ago.
In the SPD, too, many politicians are skeptical about contracts that link rents to inflation.
So far, the coalition partner FDP has seen things very differently: Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has again rejected calls for restrictions on such rents.
He sees no "immediate need for regulation" on the subject, the FDP politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Demands for more regulation of index leases sound popular, said Buschmann.
But the truth is that tenants' associations had made positive comments about them until recently.
Especially in conurbations, the general cost of living has risen much more slowly than the local comparative rents for many years, explained the Minister of Justice.
The situation for tenants with index leases was therefore often better than for tenants with normal leases.
Buschmann wants to “keep an eye on” index rents
Index rents link rent increases to the development of the general price level.
With high inflation, as is currently the case, rents rise particularly sharply.
In view of the sharp rise in consumer prices at the moment, calls have been made to limit such leases or even to ban new ones.
However, a limit on the increase in index rents has not been agreed in the coalition agreement between the SPD, FDP and Greens.
At the same time, however, Buschmann admitted that the situation on the rental market was in flux.
That's why he wanted to at least "keep an eye on the topic," he told the Funke newspapers.
Meanwhile, the situation on the housing market is getting worse in many places, especially in metropolitan areas.
In addition to tenants' associations, the housing industry is already demanding more efforts and subsidies to create more affordable living space.
With regard to the Hessian housing market, Axelexpand, board member of the Association of the Southwest German Housing Industry, said that many people were unsuccessfully looking for an affordable home.
“In order to help them, housing subsidies must be further improved so that more affordable housing can be built.”
A thousand pounds demanded that construction must become cheaper again, for example by reducing “cost-driving building regulations” or by waiving real estate transfer tax when building affordable apartments.
Building land must be identified more quickly, and planning and approval processes must be completed more quickly.
Apr/AFP/dpa