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Tuesday, October 8

Rent increases for properties with state-backed landlords

Publicly owned housing companies such as Gewobag and Dewego are raising rents from next year, with at least 90,000 tenants affected.

Photo: IMAGO / Schöning

Tuesday, October 8

Rent increases for properties with state-backed landlords

Lack of housing and spiralling rents are a constant source of worry for Berliners, and it appears things are not going to get any easier as we head into 2025. Several public housing companies are increasing rents next year, with 20,003 tenants from the municipal housing company Gewobag recently informed that their rent will rise by an average of 8,3 percent.

But Gewobag are not the only ones. Further such increases will occur from January 1 from other public housing housing companies including GESOBAU (affecting 12,500 tenants), HOWOGE (27,900 increases), WBM (10,200), Degewo (20,000) and possibly also Stadt und Land.

In order to justify these rent increases, a number of the companies commented that rents had remained unchanged in recent years, while costs for maintenance and modernisation had increased. They also said they were simply adjusting to the new ”rent-index”, the city-wide comparative indicator which allows landlords to set fair rates.

It is true that state-backed landlords are likely to give a fairer rate that private landlord companies like Deutsche Wohnen. In fact, if your apartment belongs to a company like Gewobag, then 27% of your rent already goes towards the construction of new apartments (which helps to lower rents city-wide).

However, any tenants for whom these increases mean their rent is greater than 27 percent of their income are advised to contact the administration: the Berlin Senate has agreed with these companies that tenants must not be financially overburdened.