Grant models to remove the renovation backlog
In the "local adjustment" project funded by the Federal Ministry of Research (Bundesforschungsministerium) the reasons for the renovation backlog were determined and new options were described.
At present landlords can apportion 11 % of housing modernisation costs to the rent (§ 559 BGB - German Civil Code). While the German Tenants Association (Deutsche Mieterbund) complains of the enormous hikes in housing cost burden following modernisations and demands a reduction in the allocation rate, in the view of the Building and Land Owners' Association (Haus- und Grundbesitzerverein) this rate often fails to achieve speedy recovery of their investments. In addition, it is very difficult to get tenants to accept an 11 % rent increase.
Instead of sticking to the system of the 11 percent rent hike, alternatives were developed in the project. For example, with the "energy price-dependent additional rent charge", tenants pay immediately and continuously for the energy saved over the depreciation period for the measures implemented – according to the index development of the respective energy price (e.g. district heating or natural gas). By extending the payback period, the investments become more economically acceptable for tenants and at the same time remain "warm rent neutral" for tenants – i.e. tenants do not pay any more for their heated apartment than before the modernisation.
Detail components will be published at the beginning of 2016 as a policy paper and will be discussed in a fireside chat with players from politics, the housing industry and associations.