Rent increase checklist

Which increase applies to you

Your lease determines which increase applies: without a special agreement you raise the rent to the local comparative rent, and your tenant must agree. With index-linked rent the rent follows the consumer price index, with graduated rent it rises by itself on the agreed dates. With index-linked or graduated rent an increase to the comparative rent is excluded.

Increases for modernisation (§ 559 BGB) and for operating costs (§ 560 BGB) are separate routes and not part of this checklist. If you re-let the flat, the rent cap limit applies instead of an increase; you check it with the rent cap calculator, and the change of tenant checklist plans the process.

Conditions for an increase to the comparative rent

You may raise the rent to the local comparative rent when three conditions are met: the waiting period has passed, the cap is respected and you can justify the increase. The lower of the two limits, comparative rent and cap, always applies.

• Waiting period: send the request no earlier than one year after the last increase (§ 558 (1) sentence 2 BGB); by the time the new rent applies, the old one must have been unchanged for 15 months.
• Cap: at most 20 % in three years, 15 % in municipalities with a state ordinance (§ 558 (3) BGB).
• Justification: rent index, three comparable flats or an expert opinion (§ 558a BGB). If a qualified rent index contains data for the flat, you state it in the letter.
• You calculate the permitted new rent with the rent increase calculator.

Which deadlines run after receipt

Once your request is received, your tenant has until the end of the second month to consent. The new rent applies from the start of the third month. If your tenant does not consent, you can sue for consent within three further months (§ 558b BGB).

1. Address the request in text form to all tenants and make receipt provable, for example on 10 March.
2. Await consent: until the end of the second month after receipt, in the example until 31 May.
3. Expect the new rent: from the start of the third month after receipt, in the example from 1 June.
4. Sue without consent: within three further months, in the example until 31 August.

What the increase letter looks like

The increase request needs text form: an email is enough, a letter is safer as proof. It is addressed to all tenants named in the lease, and it must be justified; without justification it is invalid.

Work out the permitted amount first with the rent increase calculator. Make receipt provable, because all deadlines run from it.

Index-linked and graduated rent

With index-linked rent you adjust the rent to the consumer price index of the Federal Statistical Office. It must stay unchanged for at least one year (§ 557b (2) BGB), and the adjustment takes effect one month earlier than an increase under § 558 BGB, from the month after next following receipt. You calculate the new amount with the index-linked rent calculator.

With graduated rent the rent rises by itself on the agreed dates. You do not need a letter; just check the dates and expect the new rent from the right month.

Adjust prepayments separately

The service charge prepayment is not part of the rent increase. You adjust it separately after a statement, in text form under § 560 (4) BGB. The service charge prepayment calculator suggests the new amount.

Typical rent increase mistakes

A rent increase usually fails over its form or a deadline, rarely over the amount.

• Sending the request before the waiting period has passed.
• Losing sight of the cap because the rent three years ago is no longer known.
• Writing to only one of several tenants.
• Raising without justification or not stating a qualified rent index.
• Letting the three months to sue after the consent period run out.