Consumers are feeling the effects of high inflation, especially in energy and food. If you have an index rental contract, you will also be asked to pay more for the housing costs.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - According to observations by the German Tenants' Association, new leases in Baden-Württemberg are "much more frequently" linked to inflation than in the past. State manager Udo Casper said this with reference to the consulting experience of the local clubs in Stuttgart. "We find that the frequency increases with the size of the cities." However, he was unable to give exact figures on the index rents.
Inflation, which is relevant for index rents, reached its highest level since the founding of the Federal Republic last year. According to the current calculation basis of the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices rose by 6.9 percent on average over the year. There have recently been calls, especially from the SPD and the Greens in the federal government, to reform such rents in order to prevent sudden rent increases due to the link to high inflation. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) had already rejected calls for reform in December.
State Minister of Justice Marion Gentges (CDU) again demanded that Buschmann address this issue. A spokeswoman for the CDU politician said that rents and the consumer price index for Germany had developed at roughly the same rate for many years. With the sharp increase in the consumer price index, this is no longer guaranteed. "The federal states have therefore asked the Federal Minister of Justice twice to react to this - with the aim of curbing the increase in index rents so that tenants, who already have to cope with rising ancillary costs and inflation, are not additionally burdened by rapidly rising rents ."
SPD parliamentary group leader Andreas Stoch said that the index rental contracts harbored the risk that more and more people would no longer be able to pay their monthly rent. "This creates an increasingly large social explosive that endangers cohesion in our country. That is why, in order to counteract an unchecked increase in rents, the price increases in existing index rental contracts must be capped." At the same time, the use of indexing for new leases must be significantly restricted.
Green MP Gudula Achterberg said affordable housing was a scarce commodity even before multiple crises fueled inflation. "I don't see why index rents should be exempted from regulatory measures. I think it's absolutely necessary to react quickly." It would be an important sign to the people who are currently plagued by real existential worries.
