Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) has called on the federal government to implement stricter, nationwide rent controls amid exploding rents in the capital.

Conservative Berlin mayor calls on government for stricter rent controls

In an interview with Tagesspiegel, mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner has appealed to the federal government to impose stricter rent controls.

“I would like to see a cap on rent increases introduced nationwide,” the mayor told the newspaper. Wegner’s new stance diverges from his conservative party’s traditionally laissez-faire approach to rising rents in the capital and beyond.

Germany’s existing, nationwide rent regulation law limits rent increases to 20 percent over three years and 15 percent in residential areas where the rental market is particularly tight.

But these laws protect existing tenants best. “The situation is not so bad with existing rentals. But many people have difficulty to pay asking rents for new builds in the city,” said Wegner.

Autumn 2024 saw Berlin move into the top three most expensive German cities for renters. According to Immoscout24’s most recent “Wohnbarometer”, asking rents for new builds in the capital broke through the 20-euro per square metre threshold for the first time this year.

Overall, Berlin’s asking rents now sit at 14,19 euros per square meter, up from just 8,10 euros in 2014. 

CDU squashed 2020 Mietendeckel at constitutional court

The CDU’s track record on rent regulation is varied at the federal and state level. As leaders of the CDU-SPD coalition government, the party introduced the rent brake law (Mietpreisbremse) in 2015, which was renewed by the Ampel coalition in 2024 to be in place until 2029 but is now at risk following the recent coalition collapse.

Under the Mietpreisbremse landlords cannot charge more than 10 percent over the standard comparable rent for new contracts in areas where local authorities define the housing market as strained. The permitted rent for new contracts is determined using the rent index (Mietspiegel).

The CDU has also opposed new rent control regulations. After Berlin’s SPD-The Left-Green coalition introduced a city-wide rent cap (Mietendeckel) in 2020, freezing rents for five years followed by annual rises of 1,3 percent from 2025, the opposing CDU brought the new law to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe.

The conservative party argued the Mietendeckel was unconstitutional and won its case, with the Constitutional Court agreeing that rent policy falls under federal jurisdiction rather than state jurisdiction.

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