Wondering if your rent is too high? A rent check lets you find out whether the Mietpreisbremse applies to your apartment, what the permitted rent could be and whether you may be able to reclaim money .
Many tenants in Germany pay more rent every month than may be permitted under the Mietpreisbremse. The problem is that you cannot tell simply by looking at your rent whether it is legally too high.
Even a high price per square metre does not answer the question on its own. The factors that matter include the Mietspiegel (local rent index), the specific apartment and possible exceptions from the Mietpreisbremse.
Anyone wondering "Is my rent too high?"should therefore check their rent.
How Can I Check If My Rent Is Too High?
For an initial rent check you only need some basic information about your apartment. The most important details are:
- your net cold rent (Nettokaltmiete),
- the size of your apartment,
- the address,
- the year of construction or building age class,
- the start date of your tenancy.
This information can be used to estimate the local comparative rent for your apartment.
In areas where the Mietpreisbremse applies, the rent at the start of a new tenancy may generally be no more than ten percent above the local comparative rent .
For example, if the assessment finds a generally permitted rent of €900 for your apartment, but you are paying €1,150 in net cold rent, the possible difference is €250 per month..
Whether you can actually claim the full €250 then requires a more detailed assessment.
When Is My Rent Legally Too High?
Your rent may violate the Mietpreisbremse if it is more than ten percent above the relevant local comparative rent.
However, there are exceptions. Relevant factors can include, for example, a higher previous rent (Vormiete), a new build or certain modernisation measures .
A good rent check therefore involves two steps:
1. Calculate the rent: What would generally be permitted under the Mietspiegel and Mietpreisbremse?
2. Check the exceptions: Is there a legal reason why your landlord may nevertheless charge a higher rent?
Only both steps together show whether your rent might actually be too high.
What Can I Gain from a Rent Check?
If your rent violates the Mietpreisbremse, the financial impact can be much larger than it first appears.
Suppose you pay €200 too muchevery month. That amounts to:
€200 × 12 months = €2,400 per year.
In addition to potentially recovering rent you have already overpaid, reducing your future rent can be particularly valuable.
If you remain in the apartment for another five years and save €200 every month, that alone amounts to future savings of:
€200 × 60 months = €12,000.
That is why it is often worth not just looking at the Mietspiegel, but checking your own rent specifically..
Can I Get Overpaid Rent Back?
Under certain conditions, yes.
How much you can reclaim depends in particular on when your tenancy began and when you formally challenge the violation of the Mietpreisbremse (Rüge)..
That is precisely why tenants who believe their rent is too high should not wait unnecessarily long before having it checked.
Is an Online Rent Check Enough?
An online rent check is a good first step. It can show whether your rent is noticeably high and whether a more detailed assessment makes sense.
For actual enforcement, however, it must be clarified whether the Mietpreisbremse applies in your specific case and whether your landlord can rely on an exception.
This is particularly important if the landlord refers, for example, to a high previous rent, a new build or a modernisation.
Check Your Rent for Free
Are you wondering: Is my rent too high?
With RentAid's free rent check, you can have your rent assessed without obligation. We check whether the Mietpreisbremse may apply to your apartment and how much you could potentially save.