FPÖ warns: SPÖ endangers tenant protection and social housing!

FPÖ warns: SPÖ endangers tenant protection and social housing!

Wohnpolitik in Austria is currently at the center of heated debates. NABG. Michael Oberlechner, spokesman for the FPÖ building, criticized the argumentation of SPÖ residential building spokeswoman Hanel-Torsch. Oberlechner claims that the socialists will be betrayed the tenants and refers to a report by the Court of Auditors about the renovation backlog at Wiener. He also quotes warnings of the SPÖ cooperative group, which is concerned about the consequences of SPÖ boss Babler.

"The planned sale of shares at Arwag to billionaire Klemens Hallmann is another example of lack of honesty," said Oberlechner. He also reminds of the liberalized conditions for non-profit housing, which are in the interests of banks and insurance companies, and refers to the assessment losses of the social building network during the term of office of the ex-SPÖ Minister Josef Ostermayer.

government program on residential policy

In the course of the new government coalition between the ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos, a comprehensive government program on housing policy was presented. A central point is the introduction of a rental cover to make living more affordable and to stabilize the housing market. The aim is to check and simplify cost -making building regulations and to promote digitization in order to accelerate approval processes. The program comprises over 200 pages and also mentions the return to the purpose of the residential building funding as well as renovation and decarbonization measures of the residential stock. Promotes for thermal renovations and heating exchange to set environmentally friendly standards.

Further measures include the evaluation of existing financing programs for acquisition of ownership and the creation of new models for young people. The abolition of state additional fees and the real estate transfer tax for the first home is also checked. In addition to the changes, a model rental contract is drawn up by the Federal Ministry of Justice, while an advisory body is to be set up in order to determine the need for action in the residential sector.

rent and rental price lid

The new government has decided to freeze rents in the regulated area for 2025. For the years 2026 and 2027, rent increases are limited to a maximum of 1 % or 2 %. This represents a significant intervention in the free rents, which affect new buildings, official apartments and single -family houses. In the case of Inflation over 3 %, landlords may only increase rents by half of the inflation above. These regulations are intended to prevent rents from increasing by 3.16 % without measures, which would save Italian tenants: inside 138 million euros.

Over 1 million apartments in Austria, including 31,516,000 category and guideline rents as well as 697,000 cooperative apartments, are affected by the rent cover. An example illustrates the financial relief: tenants of an old building with a rent of 700 euros can save a total of 993 euros by 2027. The new regulations exceed the previous rental price brake of Turquoise green, which only applied to guideline and category rents, and bring an extension of the limits for rental apartments from three to five years.

The discussion about housing policy is still intensively pursued by various interest groups. The Association of Austrian project developers (Vöpe) is positive with numerous approaches in the government program, but also requires a rapid implementation of the planned measures. The criticism that the topic of living has not been assigned to any own department remains.