Rental agreements are generally long-term obligations and therefore require legally regulated adaptability.
Section 558 of the German Civil Code (BGB) therefore grants the landlord the right to demand that the tenant agree to an increase in the rent up to the local comparative rent in the existing tenancy agreement. This possibility of increasing the rent exists for apartments that are not subject to rent controls. The first prerequisite for a rent increase is always a formally and materially lawful rent increase request from the landlord to the tenant. In practice, it can be assumed that more than half of all requests for rent increases do not meet the formal requirements and are therefore ineffective. The following applies to landlords: A request for a rent increase that has not been legally verified usually has very little chance of being legally valid. Our own experience has shown that even a company that rents well over 100,000 apartments in Hamburg could not withstand our formal objections to the rent increase request used and had to withdraw the lawsuit in order to prevent further damage to itself. In principle, rent increases then require the consent of the tenants in accordance with Section 558 of the German Civil Code (BGB). For the same reason, the following applies: Do not give your consent without first obtaining legal advice. The consent period must be taken into account, which lasts for the remainder of the month in which you received the rent increase request and the two following months. However, since the landlord’s declaration can also contain general civil law errors that must be reported immediately, we strongly advise you to consult a lawyer immediately.
Among other things, we check for you:
- whether the request for an increase corresponds to the formal requirements,
- the blocking period has been observed since the last increase (or the start of the rental period),
- the capping limit was adhered to,
- the increased rent exceeds the local comparative rent,
- Own or public funds were used for modernization measures.
Please bring all necessary documents such as the rental agreement, declarations of rent increases from the last three years, the new rent increase request and any other documents necessary for the examination, e.g. B. for self-financed or publicly funded modernization measures. If the request for a rent increase is formally and substantively lawful and the tenant is faced with a rent increase, he can, however, consider whether he wants to break away from the rental agreement by the end of the second month after receipt of the request for a rent increase due to the special right of termination that arises. In detail, the request for a rent increase is linked to the following requirements (please note that the following statements are not exhaustive and cannot replace legal advice and must therefore be made here without any guarantee): External form: The request for a rent increase must
- be given by the landlord,
- be declared in text form and the declaration bears the printed name of the landlord and, if applicable, the authorized person,
- must be addressed to and received by all persons named in the rental agreement.
Contents:
- The increase in rent must be presented in figures and justified in terms of content.
- This includes proof that the rent charged does not exceed the local rent.
- The identifiable originator of the increase request must be authorized and the authorization must be proven.
Further requirements:
- The landlord can only demand a rent increase according to Section 558 of the German Civil Code (BGB) if your rent has not changed for fifteen months at the time of the increase (blocking period).
- However, rent increases due to modernization or increases in operating costs are not taken into account.
- Die erste Mieterhöhung nach § 558 darf frühstens nach Ablauf eines Jahres seit Beginn des Mietverhältnisses erfolgen.
- The local comparative rent must not be exceeded.
- Die Miete darf innerhalb von drei Jahren um maximal 20% erhöht werden (Kappungsgrenze). Mieterhöhungen wegen Modernisierung und erhöhter Betriebskosten bleiben unberücksichtigt.
- To justify the increase, reference can be made to the current rent index, an expert report or at least three comparable apartments.
As a tenant or landlord, you can benefit from the tenancy law experience of the STEINWACHS law firm in Hamburg and Berlin.