Rent stop in Austria: FPÖ criticizes SPÖ as fraud for tenants!

Rent stop in Austria: FPÖ criticizes SPÖ as fraud for tenants!

Wien, Österreich - On March 26, 2025, there is a heated debate about the living situation in Austria. Michael Oberlechner, the building spokesman for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), criticizes the rent stop initiated by residential minister Andreas Babler (SPÖ). According to Oberlechner, the current measures are "residential policy fraud" because the tenants in Austria are not sufficiently supported. In particular, he criticizes the fact that rental kits were not taken into account in Viennese and were not taken into account in the free market.

Oberlechner points out that old construction agents are not protected from the rent increases if their rental contracts are supported to the consumer price index (VPI) instead of the guideline. This regulation urgently requires a repair, which is why the FPÖ brought in a corresponding application. He emphasizes that the black-red-pink system fractions have denied necessary changes in this context.

Pandemief intensification law

On February 24th, a multi-party application entitled "Rental Pandemief Strenschildungsgesetz-MPflG" was submitted to the National Council. This measure provides for the suspension of the increase in guideline and category rents. Around 650,000 households benefit directly from this stop, which relieves more than a million households, which also benefit from stable administrative fees into operating costs. Georg Niedermühlbichler, the President of the Tenant Association of Austria (MVÖ), emphasizes the success of this initiative.

The MVÖ had already warned of the planned rent increases at the beginning of the year and actively fought against them. The SPÖ supported the demand to suspend the price increases and announced an application in the parliament. Niedermühlbichler also calls for the establishment of a secure tail fund to help tenants with corona-related payment difficulties.

planned rent increases and their influence

Before today's measure, categorical rental would have risen by 5.5 percent without the rent stop. In Vienna, the guideline rent could have been increased from 5.81 to 5.98 euros per square meter, which would have meant annual additional costs of around 185 euros for an 80-square-meter apartment. In Styria, the increase would be over 250 euros and in Vorarlberg over 280 euros annually. The increases also had an impact on operating costs, which would have meant additional loads for the tenants.

Even before the pandemic, over 380,000 households in Austria were overloaded from housing costs. It is estimated that there are about 49,000 dismissals and eviction lawsuits in 2021, whereby the number of delogings could more than double compared to 2020. Experts warn of the worst consequences of the crisis and urgently demand measures to protect tenants from complaints and homelessness.

While the rent stop at the discussion, there is a question of whether it is sufficient to meet the challenges on the housing market in Austria. The freedoms already announce to actively work on initiatives that aim to create affordable living space.

Overall, private households in Austria spend a significant part of their income for living, and the current topic around rents and housing costs remains an urgent problem in social discourse. An evaluation of the Statistics Austria that the development of rents has an enormous impact on the financial burden on households.