The law allows the landlord to continue to demand rent from the previous tenant if the previous tenant owed this rent. However, this is not usually the case.
The previous tenant only owed the rent if it had been demanded before the rent control regulations came into force (June 1, 2015). This is because the previous tenant regulation aims to protect existing rights—i.e., to protect rents that were agreed upon without knowledge of future regulations. Rents that were demanded after the rent control regulations came into force, contrary to their limitations, and were therefore already illegal, are not protected. Such excessive rent was never owed by the previous tenant, which is why the landlord cannot invoke it.
Furthermore, the landlord can only invoke a rent owed by the previous tenant if he has informed the tenant in writing of the corresponding exception to the rent cap before concluding the rental agreement. The landlord must also inform the tenant of the amount of rent last owed by the previous tenant.
If the landlord has not provided the required information about the previous rent in writing or has not done so in good time (i.e., before the contract was concluded), they cannot invoke the higher previous rent. If the landlord subsequently provides the information in the prescribed form, they can only invoke the previous rent two years after providing the information. If, on the other hand, only the form in which the information was provided was incorrect, the landlord can invoke the previous rent as soon as the information has been provided in the correct form.
If the landlord cannot invoke the previous rent and no other exception to the rent control regulations applies, these regulations apply as normal. This means that the basic rent may not exceed the so-called “local comparative rent” + 10%. If the rent is higher than this amount, the tenant can demand that the rent be reduced to the legally compliant level and, if necessary, reclaim any excess money paid from the landlord.
If the tenant wishes to reduce their rent, they must submit a written complaint to their landlord (or the authorized administration) regarding the excessive rent. If the landlord has referred to a rent that was already too high for the previous tenant, the tenant must refer to this information from the landlord in their complaint and explain why the landlord cannot refer to the previous rent. The landlord is then obliged to reduce the rent to the legally compliant amount and transfer any excess money paid back to the tenant. Since checking for exceptions to the rent cap (in this case, the previous rent), calculating the maximum rent, and writing a complaint all require legal expertise, it is a good idea to hire a professional legal service provider to reduce the rent. They can also take legal action against the landlord if they refuse to reduce the rent.
