Landlords charging illegally high rent in 94% of cases checked in Berlin

Berlin’s Rent Price Review Office (Mietpreisprüfstelle) found that landlords were charging tenants illegally high rents in almost all of the rental contracts it reviewed in 2025.

Berlin Mietpreisprüfstelle checked 340 cases

In March 2025, the city of Berlin opened a Mietpreisprüfstelle, a free service that locals can use to find out whether their landlord is demanding an illegally high rent. Now, the Mietpreisprüfstelle has said that landlords were charging illegally high rent in 94 percent of the 340 cases it checked in 2025.

In around half of the cases where landlords were found to be charging illegally high rent, they were charging tenants more than 50 percent over the local comparative rent limit (Mietspiegel). Mietpreisprüfstelle head, Sandra Obermeyer, added that of the 130 rental contracts brought to the service in January 2026, a “very, very large portion are not permissible”.

Charging 50 percent or more over the comparative rent limit is considered “rent exploitation” in Germany. Landlords charging 50 percent over the limit may be committing a criminal offence and can face prison time. Landlords charging 20 percent over the legal limit can also face a fine of up to 50.000 euros.

If landlords are found to be charging tenants too much, it is Berlin’s 12 district authorities (Bezirksämter) which are responsible for following up the cases. However, rent exploitation is so common in the capital that the Bezirksämter says it doesn’t have enough employees to manage the workload.

In December 2025, Berlin’s CDU-SPD government announced that it would dedicate 4,5 million euros to regulating illegally high rents over the coming two years. In the first step, each Bezirksamt will be assigned a government inspector to assist with excessive rent prosecutions. The money will also be used to establish rent supervision bodies in each district.

Am I paying too much rent in Berlin?

If you think you might be paying illegally high rent, there are a number of things you can do to enforce your rights. The first step is to gain a better understanding of the German rent brake law and rental index - our explainer breaks it down for you.

If you think your landlord isn’t abiding by the rent break law or rental index, you can run the numbers in The Left Party'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.

If the calculator suggests you’re being overcharged, you can call Berlin’s Mietprüfstelle hotline. By phone, advisors can confirm whether you’re being overcharged and, if so, may invite you to an in-person appointment to find out more and give you information about how to seek a rent reduction.