Rent index and rent brake

In short: The rent index gives a city’s local comparative rent. The rent brake limits the rent on new lettings in tight housing markets to at most ten percent above that comparative rent.

In more detail: Both are meant to protect tenants from excessive rents. The brake applies only in areas designated by the states.

In detail

• Rent index: An overview of usual rents by location, size, features and year of construction. Qualified indexes carry special evidential weight.
• Exceptions to the brake: New buildings from October 2014, comprehensively modernised flats and where the previous rent was already higher.
• Objection: Tenants can object to excessive rent and reclaim overpayments.
• Rent increases for existing tenancies: They may not exceed the comparative rent and a cap (usually 20% in three years).
• Information: Cities and tenants’ associations publish the indexes (kuendigungsfristen-im-mietverhaeltnis).