Especially in larger German cities, consumers have long been confronted with rapidly rising rents. Therefore, in June 2015, the Federal Government responded with passing the rental control legislation ("Mietpreisbremse"). More than a year later, however, studies by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), by the Institute for Social Urban Development (ifss) and by RegioKontext GmbH suggest that the desired effect has not yet been achieved.
In June 2016, ConPolicy conducted a representative survey among 1,008 German tenants commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) in order to determine the level of knowledge, existing practical impediments and fears of taking advantage of the new law.
The core results of the study are:
- The knowledge of the law is generally low.
- Tenants are discouraged from making use of the law mainly because the level of the rent payed by the previous tenants is unknown to them.
- The fear of impairing the relationship with the landlord also prevents tenants from asserting their rights resulting from the law.
The study has now been published on the homepage of the BMJV and is also available under this link.