(de-news.net) – In an effort to enhance equity and transparency in Germany’s rental housing market, Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) has announced plans to amend tenancy law, with a particular focus on tightening regulation of furnished apartments and short-term leases. The Federal Ministry of Justice views access to affordable housing as a central prerequisite for broader cost-of-living stability. These legislative initiatives are set against the backdrop of sustained pressure in urban housing markets, especially in metropolitan areas, where affordable accommodation has become increasingly scarce and where furnished and time-limited rental models have expanded amid insufficiently clear and uniform regulatory standards.
Under the proposed amendments, landlords would be required to itemize any furniture-related surcharge separately in rental contracts rather than incorporating it implicitly into the base rent. Such surcharges would be subject to clear constraints, needing to remain proportionate and aligned with the depreciated value of the furnishings. For fully furnished apartments, a standardized supplement of up to five percent of the net cold rent would be permitted, establishing a more predictable and comparable framework. In parallel, the ministry plans to introduce a statutory cap on short-term leases, limiting their duration to a maximum of six months. These contracts would be permissible only where tenants can demonstrate a specific temporary housing need, such as a fixed-term work assignment, internship, or study-related placement in another city. According to the minister’s timetable, the measures, which are anchored in the governing coalition agreement, are intended to strengthen tenant protections and could enter into force within the current year.
Tenant groups call for broader reform
Tenant advocacy organizations have welcomed the initiative while drawing attention to persistent market distortions. The German Tenants’ Association has reported an increase in unlawfully concluded short-term leases and a growing prevalence of overpriced furnished apartments. From its perspective, such arrangements frequently circumvent core tenant protections, including rent caps, safeguards against termination, and limits on rent increases, thereby placing renters in a structurally weaker position. At the same time, the association has cautioned that targeted regulatory reforms alone are unlikely to resolve systemic imbalances, instead calling for a more comprehensive housing and rent policy capable of providing durable relief in overheated markets and restoring a more balanced distribution of bargaining power between landlords and tenants.
Market data further illustrate the durability of these pressures. An analysis conducted by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy indicates that asking rents rose by 4.5 percent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2025. The Federal Ministry of Justice has partially attributed this trend to ongoing legal ambiguities surrounding short-term and furnished rentals, which, in its view, facilitate the circumvention of the statutory rent brake and undermine its intended effect.
Additional evidence of widespread concern over excessive rents emerges from data collected through the Left Party’s so-called “rent usury app.” According to figures released by the party, approximately 250,000 households nationwide have made use of the tool, with around two thirds of the reviewed rents classified as excessive. Despite this, only a relatively small share of cases—about 8,500—has been formally reported to the competent authorities, a hesitancy that is widely attributed to tenants’ fears of losing their housing. Under existing law, rent demands exceeding the local reference level by more than 20 percent constitute an administrative offense, while surcharges of more than 50 percent may rise to the level of a criminal offense. In practice, however, enforcement remains limited, largely because of the high evidentiary threshold required to substantiate such violations.
