Draft law to amend tenancy law:

For the first time, the furnishing surcharge will be specified by law.

The following will apply in future:

• The furnishing surcharge may not exceed 1% of the current value of the furnishings
• The current market value at the time the rental agreement is concluded is decisive. The current value can be determined by estimation
• Alternatively, a flat-rate calculation is possible: for fully furnished apartments, a surcharge of up to 10% of the net cold rent is assumed by law to be appropriate

One significant change concerns the disclosure obligations:

• Landlords must disclose the furnishing surcharge before the contract is concluded without being asked, i.e. at least in the tenancy agreement
• The net cold rent must also be stated in the tenancy agreement, as this is the reference value for the furnishing surcharge. Although the wording of the draft bill does not contain any provision on the disclosure of the net cold rent, we assume that courts will interpret the new regulation to this effect
• If the landlord does not disclose the amount of the furnishing surcharge in good time,
  • the apartment is legally considered unfurnished
  • this has a direct impact on the permissible rent amount, as a furnishing surcharge is then not permitted

The maximum permissible duration of a "letting for temporary use" has not yet been regulated by law.

The federal government's draft bill now specifies this:

• In future, a fixed upper time limit of 6 months is to apply
• An extension of up to 2 months should be possible if the tenant has a longer requirement after the start of the tenancy
• "Temporary use" as an exception to the rent freeze will continue to depend on whether the tenant has a temporary special housing need

According to the draft law, the furnished basic rent is the basic rent to which the possible surcharge of 10% under Section 556d (1) BGB (permissible rent at the start of the tenancy) is to be added.

Important: The rent freeze does not apply to all rental apartments.

In addition to the regulation of furnished rentals, the draft bill contains further regulations that are important for owners:

• Limitation of index-linked rents in the event of high inflation: if the rental property is located in municipalities (or parts of municipalities) that have been designated by the respective state government as an area with a tight housing market, only half of any index change above 3% can be taken into account
• Extended protection against dismissal for tenants in the event of payment arrears: Extension of the so-called grace period to an ordinary termination in the event of full arrears payment by the tenant; however, this can only be claimed once by the tenant
• Increase in the limit for simplified modernization levies to € 20,000

You can find the Federal Government's draft bill (Cabinet decision of 29.04.2026) at

https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Downloads

/DE/Gesetzgebung/RegE/RegE_Miete_II.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

Haufe-Verlag provides an overview of the draft law on its real estate news page:

www.haufe.de/immobilien/wirtschaft-politik/mietrechtsreform-2026_84342_684280.html