Rent brake stops greedy landlords!
Munich couple had sued - and is now getting thousands of euros back
Created: 02/11/2022, 22:56
By: Andreas Thieme
Anyone who moves into a Munich apartment does not have to accept any price, as the district court has decided © Tobias Hase/dpa
Munich has the highest rents in Germany.
But how much can landlords charge - and where is the limit?
The district court has now clarified this in a judgment on the rental price brake.
Munich - 1171 euros per month for a 69 square meter apartment in Neuhausen.
No horror rent, but still violent.
Just as you know it from Munich.
But: According to the district court, this lease was illegal.
Because: The court sentenced two landlords from the district of Starnberg to repay their two tenants 3295.44 euros overpaid rent.
It also determined that the agreed rent may only amount to 896.25 euros in the future.
Rent brake stops greedy landlords!
The Munich couple had sued - and are now getting thousands of euros back
The two plaintiffs rented a three-room apartment in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg at the end of 2019.
The 69 square meter apartment is located in a block of flats built at the beginning of the 20th century.
It has a modernized bathroom and a parquet floor.
There is no balcony or terrace.
The rent agreed in the lease was EUR 1171, plus advance payments for heating, hot water and operating costs totaling EUR 130.
The plaintiffs believe that the agreed rent is significantly higher than the rent index of the city of Munich and therefore violates the so-called rental price brake.
They therefore repeatedly asked the landlords to reduce the rent and reimburse overpaid rent.
Munich: The district court decided that 1171 euros for 69 square meters is not a permissible rent
The defendants considered the rent reasonable.
Among other things, they stated that the previous tenant had already signed a contract in 2016 with a cold rent of 1105 euros.
The Munich rent index has “nothing to do with the reality of Munich rents”.
This is also reflected in the differences between the prices in the rent index and in the housing market barometer of the state capital of Munich.
They moved to dismiss the lawsuit.
The judge in charge agreed with the tenants.
He ruled: "
The rental agreement between the parties regarding the rent of €1171 proves (...) to be ineffective in the amount of €274.62.
The disputed apartment is located in a regulation area according to § 556d Abs. 2 BGB.
The rent agreed at the beginning of the tenancy may therefore exceed the local comparative rent (...) by a maximum of 10%.
(...) The average local rent according to the rent index for Munich 2019 is (...) €11.81 per square meter (...).
Judgment in Munich: The landlord now has to repay a total of 3295.44 euros to his tenants
The court made it clear that the information in the rent index cannot be taken over as a flat rate, but that the condition of the specific rental property must always be assessed in each individual case to determine the local rent.
The wording of the judgment reads:
"When determining the local comparative rent using the rent index, it should be noted that this is not a fixed amount, but moves in a range with an upper and lower limit.
Non-identical rental prices are agreed for completely identical apartments.
In addition to objective criteria, subjective aspects such as special negotiating skills also play a role in the rent agreement.
In addition, the agreed rents for identical apartments also differ according to the duration of the respective tenancy.
For this reason, the local comparative rent is always in a range.”
Good for the tenants: The court also determined that the rent to be paid in the future must also be reduced.
As a completely unsuccessful party, the landlords now have to pay the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees in addition to the costs of the proceedings.