Federal Construction Minister Verena Hubertz (SPD) wants to take more action against rental usury. The rent cap has been extended by four years until the end of 2029. “But it is not enough,” he told the Funke media group newspaper. He called for “fair regulation” in the face of high housing costs.
Hubertz, for example, advocates stricter regulations for furnished apartment rentals. “If someone puts an old sofa in a corner and then charges 35 euros per square meter instead of eight euros per square meter, and that happens in big cities, then it no longer has anything to do with the appropriate surcharge,” he said.
This needs to be made clear in the contract as to which costs relate to the base rent and which relate to the furnishings.
The minister also wants to take action on the rental index which is linked to the rate of inflation. “The rent index is a problem,” he said, referring to an expert commission set up by the Federal Ministry of Justice to develop regulatory proposals.
