Berlin district charges landlord 26.000 euros for rent exploitation in legal first
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A Berlin district has fined a landlord for charging her tenant rent 190 percent over the maximum amount legally permitted by the local rental index. The tenant can now claim a 22.000 euro rent refund.
Berlin landlord owes tenant 22.000 in rent exploitation case
The Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has, for the first time, fined a landlord for charging their tenant exploitative rent. The tenant was renting a 38 square metre flat in the district and was charged rent 190 percent over the maximum amount regulated by the local rental index (Mietspiegel).
The rental index applies in around 600 local areas across Germany which are considered to have a particularly strained housing market. Landlords cannot charge over this maximum amount, and those found charging 20 percent over the maximum amount face a fine of up to 50.000 euros. Those found charging 50 percent or more over the maximum amount face prison time.
In the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg case, the district ordered the landlord to pay a 26.253,50 euro fine. According to local public broadcaster rbb, the landlord submitted an appeal but then retracted her request a day before the hearing on October 9. The tenant now has the option to sue to claim a 22.264,08 euro refund for the rent she overpaid.
District mayor Regine Sommer-Wetter (die Linke) said that she hoped the case would set a precedent for other districts in Berlin to take action against landlords who charge exploitative rents.
98 percent of investigated Berlin rental contracts overcharge tentants
The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg case is certainly no exception. In March 2025, Berlin announced that it had opened a Rent Price Review Office (Mietpreisprüfstelle) and a hotline which tenants can call to find out whether they are paying illegally high rent and how to challenge their landlord.
By August, the Mietpreisprüfstelle announced that in 93 of the 95 rental contracts it reviewed in the second quarter of 2025, landlords were found to be charging tenants illegally high rent.
If you think your landlord isn’t abiding by the rental index, you can call the Mietpreisprüfstelle on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2pm and 5pm on 030-213 007 302.
Alternatively, run the numbers through die Linke’s online rent calculator (also available in English). Launched as part of their recent election campaign, between November 2024 and January 2025 alone, the calculator found over 20.000 cases of rent exploitation across eight German cities.