Rent freeze: New government protects tenants from drastic increases!

Rent freeze: New government protects tenants from drastic increases!

Today, March 5, 2025, the new government made up of ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS passed a far-reaching decision in its first Council of Ministers that is of great importance for all tenants. A rent freeze was decided to ensure that rents for old buildings, municipal and cooperative apartments will not be increased until April. This step was necessary to prevent rents from increasing by more than three percent without this regulation. The deputy SPÖ club chairwoman Julia Herr emphasized that this was “a great relief for the tenants” and a “really good start for the new coalition”. apa.at reported.

In addition, there will be no increase in rents for benchmark and category apartments or in the non-profit sector this year. Without this decision, category rents could have increased by over five percent, while benchmark rents would have increased by around three percent. Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler pointed out that this decision will bring tenants savings of around 140 million euros, which is particularly crucial for households in tense housing situations. In a second step, the aim is to also include new apartments in future regulations, although this is legally more complicated the press reported. As far as we know so far, the rent increase in the coming years is expected to be below the inflation rate, which represents additional relief for tenants.