Landlords demand illegally high rent in 46% of Berlin property listings

The Berlin Senate has conducted its first “rent scan” (Mietenscan) and found that nearly half of rental listings in the capital ask tenants to pay illegally high rent.

Berlin conducts first “rent scan”

The Berlin Senate has surveyed 4.539 listings for rental properties in the capital and found that in 46 percent of listings, landlords were asking prospective tenants to pay illegally high rent.

Germany’s nationwide rent brake law outlines that landlords cannot charge tenants more than 10 percent over the “local comparative rent” in areas with a “strained housing market”. All 12 Berlin districts are considered to have a “strained housing market”. 

However, the law has many loopholes, and landlords often charge tenants over the legal limit without facing consequences. Now, the city has conducted its first “rent scan”. According to Housing Senator Christian Gaebler (SPD), the Senate contacted the landlords and requested that they review their listings.

The Senate now plans to carry out a “rent scan” every month. “With the rent scan, we want to focus on landlords and take decisive action against excessive rents,” Gaebler told rbb. Average rents in Berlin have skyrocketed in recent years, rising by 69 percent between 2013 and 2025.

Berlin slowly doing more to challenge illegal rents

It is difficult to say exactly how many Berliners pay too much rent, but figures suggest it is very common. In 2024, the Left Party launched an online “rent exploitation calculator”. In the calculator’s first year online, 50.000 Berlin tenants found they were likely being overcharged.

While the rent brake law was introduced in 2015, local authorities are only now taking further steps to challenge landlords who are breaking the law. In March 2025, Berlin opened a Rent Price Review Office (Mietpreisprüfstelle). The office reviewed 340 rental contracts in 2025 and found tenants were overpaying in 94 percent of cases.

In October 2025, the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg fined a landlord for the first time for charging their tenant exploitative rent. The landlord was charging her tenant 190 percent over the legal limit and was ordered to pay a 26.000-euro fine, while the tenant was given the option to claim a 22.000-euro refund.

In June 2026, Berlin also became the first federal state to launch a digital rent register (Mietenkataster). Landlords now have one year to upload details of their rental properties, and face fines of up to 100.000 euros for non-compliance. The register will use AI software to flag potential cases of landlords charging illegally high rent, which authorities can then investigate on tenants’ behalf.