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Four ways to lower your rent in Germany

It’s often expats in Germany who find themselves paying unduly high rent, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a better deal - even if you’ve already signed your tenancy agreement.

Published: 20 August 2019 10:16 CEST
Four ways to lower your rent in Germany
Photo: Chrissi/Depositphotos

When you’re looking for accommodation in a competitive rental market, it might seem like there’s no option other than to accept whatever rent the landlord is asking for. In actual fact, Germany’s rental market is highly regulated and knowing your rights will often get you a fairer price.

Here’s how to make sure your tenancy agreement is compliant with German rental laws – and what to do if it isn’t.

Read up on Mietpreisbremse

In the summer of 2015, Germany introduced a law to cap how much landlords in urban areas could charge above the rental average or Mietspiegel. Aimed at slowing down the pace of rental increases, Meitpreisbremse stipulates that new rental contracts cannot exceed 10 percent of the average price of an apartment in the area. You do need to meet certain criteria to be eligible, which you can read more about here.

You might ask why, if this law exists, you still hear of people paying extortionate rent? It’s because the law does have a fatal flaw. Landlords who don’t follow it aren’t penalised and so many have actively ignored it. As a result, publicly-available data from ImmobilienScout24 shows that every second tenancy agreement in Germany is unlawful.

For expats, the situation is even worse: The tenants’ rights portal wenigermiete.de has analysed more than 2,500 rental contracts from expats that were submitted to its website and found that 83 percent have illegally high rent. The reason for this isn’t entirely clear but it could be that German landlords are aware that many expats don’t know their rights. On the other hand, expats may be used to paying higher rent in their home countries and so unaware they are being overcharged.

Familiarising yourself with Meitpreisbremse is the first step to making sure you get a fair deal when you sign a tenancy agreement. And it’s never too late to invoke it – even if you have already signed a lease, you can challenge it if you discover your rent is too high.

Click here to calculate if your rent is illegally high

Know your options: Online portal, tenancy association, local lawyer
 
If your rent is illegally high, you don’t have to keep quiet and cut your losses. German rental law favours the tenant and there are several ways to lower the amount you’re paying.

To start with, there is the team at Berlin-based online portal/legal-tech startup wenigermiete.de. Once you have filled in their online questionnaire to determine whether you are eligible for a rent reduction, they handle your case from there. The website makes the saving calculation based on the official rental index of each city and about 30-50 detailed questions regarding your apartment. If you answer those questions accurately, chances are high that you can save the calculated amount. The portal’s team will act on your behalf to lower your rent, representing you in court if necessary. You only pay if they are successful and even then their fee comes out of the security deposit you’ve already paid to your landlord. 

Alternatively, you could contact your local tenants’ union which will support you in approaching your landlord and challenging the illegal contract yourself. This often involves you attending on-site appointments. If the landlord does not react, the tenancy association will refer you to a lawyer. This may cost you a deductible of €150 – however, in Berlin, the association often waives the fee. 

Your third option is to hire a lawyer from the outset, just be aware that even the initial consultation can cost up to €190 per hour – and that’s just to evaluate whether you have a case or not. It’s not unheard of for people to pay the €190 only for a lawyer to advise them against taking action as their case has a low chance of success.

Don’t fear contract termination

It’s understandable to worry that challenging your contract might lead your landlord to terminate your lease or cease maintaining the property. But the fact is, they have no legal leg to stand on.

If your tenancy agreement is with a property management company and you have complied with all the contractual obligations then there is no legal way for them to cancel your lease. If you are renting from a private landlord, the only legal termination can be on the grounds of the landlord needing the property for themselves or their family members. Several conditions must be met for them to claim the property for their own use and, often, if a private landlord issues such a notice it is preventable. wenigermiete.de will look over this and and other termination notices.

Most landlords already know that they are breaching rent control law in the first place. They will be cautious if they receive a letter signed by a lawyer so wenigermiete.de ensures every claim letter is signed by a contract lawyer that works closely with the portal. 

Reject your next rent increase

The most sensible thing you can do when renting in Germany is stay clued up. There are laws in place to protect you, but you need to know them to use them to your advantage.

For example, the law also prohibits steep rises in rent over a short period of time. Landlords are not permitted to increase your rent more than 15 percent over a three-year period and it still cannot exceed the rent index (the same rent index used for rent control but without applying the 10 percent addition). wenigermiete.de also helps you check and dispute rent increase letters.

You’re also protected if your rental property is repaired or modernized. Until last year, landlords could reclaim 11 percent of the cost of the repairs or refurbishment, but as of 2019 they can only reclaim eight percent annually. This has been one of the biggest issues faced by tenants in Germany who would be unable to pay the unexpectedly higher rent.

If you suspect your rental contract is against German rent control law you can can call wenigermiete.de‘s free hotline under 030 2844 3300 (Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm)  

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Wenigermiete.

For members

READER INSIGHTS

How foreign residents in Germany are winning rent reductions

Rent is often the biggest expense for foreign residents in Germany. Even though there are rent controls in some cities, tenants can still be charged too much. Readers shared how they managed to get a rent reduction.

Published: 2 May 2024 14:57 CEST
How foreign residents in Germany are winning rent reductions

The Local asked readers whether they have tried to reduce their rents in Germany, and to what end. 

Of the readers who responded, nearly half said they had never tried to reduce their rent. Among the other half of respondents, many said they either wanted to reduce their rent or were currently in the process of trying to have it reduced. 

About 18 percent of respondents to our survey said they had successfully reduced their rents in Germany before.

Why do residents want rent reductions?

Germany notoriously has the lowest rate of home ownership in Europe, which has long been attributed to being a country with high real estate prices and relatively low rents.

But this means that a large number of German residents are directly affected by rising rents. Low-income individuals living in urban hubs where rents have been rising rapidly in recent years are particularly vulnerable.

According to Germany’s statistical office (Destatis), 11.8 percent of the population was overburdened by housing costs as of 2022 – meaning these households spent more than 40 percent of their income on housing.

Unsurprisingly, a number of readers cited inflation and cost-of-living increases as the primary reason they wanted to try for a rent reduction.

READ ALSO: How to grow your savings in Germany during high inflation

A couple of readers noted that their current rent prices are making their living costs too high.

Rothe, 29, who lives in Aachen, says she can’t bear her current rent but is stuck in a contract.

Similarly, Lucas, 35, who lives in Horb am Neckar said he wants to reduce his rent to balance his expenses following the recent cost-of-living hikes. He says he’s tried to negotiate with his landlord, who doesn’t care to do so.

While landlords are unlikely to grant a rent reduction based on inflation or cost-of-living increases, there are a few reasons you can legitimately demand a rent reduction in Germany.

Make sure your rent isn’t exceeding the price brake limit

The rent price brake (Mietpreisbremse) isn’t perfect, but it’s arguably Germany’s strongest protection for tenants against rising rents. 

It’s designed to prevent landlords from raising rents to ‘unreasonable’ levels, but with no central agency for enforcement, the burden falls on tenants to demand legal rents.

READ ALSO: German rent brake to be extended until 2029: What you need to know

Andrew, 62, successfully reduced the rent he pays for his flat in Berlin’s Gesundbrunnen area with the rent brake rule. After he realised the “rent was high for the location”,  he contacted his tenant’s association.

He thought that his landlord responded in a reasonable manner: “They thought the condition of the flat justified the higher rent and paid a friendly visit to point out the features,” Andrew said.

“We countered that the features were all quite old and that the previous tenants had been on a lower rate.”

Mieten runter "rents down"

The words “Rents down” are graffitied on the wall of a rental building. About 75% of Berlin rents are set illegally high, a legal expert told The Local. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Monika Skolimowska

The rent brake prohibits landlords from setting rents more than 10 percent above a local average value, which is recorded in a local rent price index. You can find your local rent price index by searching for the German term “Mietspiegel”, along with the name of your city or region.

Here is one for Berlin, which allows you to calculate your rent index based on your current address and a few factors such as the area of your flat and how old the building is etc.

Andrew recommends joining a tenants’ union and using an online calculator to check if your rent is reasonable. He also says you should be prepared to negotiate and to compromise where necessary.

Gerson, 50, who lives in North Rhine-Westphalia, also found that his current rent was too high for his location. He says he is currently looking for a company that can assist him with the process to demand a rent reduction.

David, 57, in Berlin said he believes his rent is “illegally high” compared to other and he has hired a lawyer to go through the process of trying to get a rent reduction. 

There are also legal service providers that can help with renters’ issues in Germany, and some that even specialise in winning rent reductions with the rent price brake. You can find some of them through an online search. You may want to look for one that will initiate the process at no cost to you. Some will even complete the service with no cost to tenants, applying their fees instead to the landlords at fault in the event that they win a rent reduction.

READ ALSO: Why are Berlin rents soaring by 20 percent when there’s a rent brake?

It’s also worth noting that the rent price brake only applies to rental markets that are considered highly competitive. So it applies to most of Germany’s big cities, but may not apply in suburban or rural regions.

Overcharged by faulty measurements

Rents prices in Germany are usually calculated according to a price per metre of living space. Therefore, in some cases, it may be worth double checking that your living space has been calculated accurately.

One reader, who didn’t wish to be named, told The Local that he had previously reduced his rent for an apartment in Düsseldorf in this way.

“We had a small attic apartment with slanted walls,” the reader said. “The total square metres of the apartment were based on measurement from wall to wall. However, walls had to be straight to a height of at least 1.2 metres before the slanted side can begin [or else] the total square metres start from the point where the vertical height of 1.2 metres is available.”

After he learned about this requirement he measured the apartment, and found that his own rent had been based on a measurement of the floor plan, not the legally defined living space. Then he contacted his tenants’ association, which sent an architect to confirm the measurements.

Initially sceptical, his landlord sent another architect to check the measurements. But when it was confirmed, his rent was lowered accordingly. “Turned out that we had to pay for about 10 square metres less all in all,” the reader said.

This incident was 15 years ago, and these types of regulations can vary from region to region.

His advice to readers is to check up on the local regulations that may apply to your situation. 

In other cases, some renters have been able to negotiate rent reductions for other inconveniences – such as excessive noise, for example.

READ ALSO: How to get a rent reduction for problems in your German flat

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