Trouble because rents are too cheap - there is.
As absurd as it sounds, this is exactly why a landlord in Maxvorstadt sold his property.
The tenants now fear for their future.
Munich - The tenants in a residential complex in the Maxvorstadt * are afraid.
Fear that they will soon have to look for new apartments because they can no longer afford the rent.
And that because your landlord is said to have charged too little rent for years.
Sounds absurd, but that's how it is.
“It's just unfair,” complains Lukas Johannes Garbellotti (30), one of the residents.
He asks himself: “Why are cheap rents being demanded on the one hand in Munich * and on the other hand, the implementation of the law is prevented?” For example, the self-employed entrepreneur pays 430 euros per month for his 21.5 square meter apartment, i.e. 20 euros per square meter .
For comparison: According to the Housing Market Barometer 2020, the cold rent in Maxvorstadt for comparable apartments was on average 26.51 euros per square meter.
Munich: Too cheap apartments?
The expert explains the legislation
But the relatively cheap rent will soon be over.
Because at the beginning of the year the landlord received mail from the tax office.
He has no intention of making a profit and has to rent more expensively, otherwise that is a hobby.
He was threatened with high tax back payments.
Those who ask too little rent get in trouble from the tax office.
This is what the tax code says.
According to Paragraph 21, Paragraph 2, the rent must be at least 50 percent of the local rent index (by the end of 2020 it was as much as 66 percent).
Otherwise, the landlord can only bill the advertising costs such as repairs and depreciation on a pro-rata basis.
"The cases are increasing significantly," says Rudolf Stürzer, chairman of the house and reason.
Originally, the clause for favor rents between relatives was created, but more and more third-party tenancies fall under it, as rents have increased overall.
Anyone who does not go along suddenly falls below the limit - "and falls from the clouds when the tax office reports," says lawyer Stürzer.
He classifies: "For many private landlords who act socially - and that's more than you think - it's a dilemma." Either they have to increase the rents or pay more.
In addition, Stürzer criticizes the fact that the tax office obviously has its own rent index, which is not published.
He demands: "The paragraph must go."
Munich: tenants fear for their apartments
The landlord of two apartment blocks and a rear building with a total of 35 apartments and three commercial units in the Maxvorstadt from 1958 finally got too much, report tenants.
He sold the property.
The residents were informed of this by post.
The landlord did not want to comment on the whole annoyance at the request of our newspaper.
Garbellotti doesn't know what happens next.
But one thing seems clear: the cheap rent is history.
Some residents are already looking for new apartments.
They fear that they will soon no longer be able to afford it here.
People from different nations and social classes live in the houses.
A real community, as Garbellotti reports.
Most of the tenants have lived in the residential complex for many years, Garbellotti himself since 2011. Flea markets, parties together, cooking together - all of this is part of it.
A sailing group has even formed that regularly go to the Ammersee, says the self-employed entrepreneur.
But human interaction - a rarity in the big city anyway - could soon be history.
- Read more news from Munich here.
* tz.de / muenchen
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