The Landlord Association House & Grund Deutschland is calling for accelerated legal processes regarding significant rent arrears due to potential financial strain on private property owners. Kai Warnecke, the association’s president, stated to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” that private landlords are fundamentally different from large apartment companies, lacking the extensive reserves and risk buffers, as many only provide one or a few units.
According to a survey conducted by the association among approximately 24,000 landlords, 10.3% experienced rent default last year. Warnecke warned that unpaid rent can quickly deplete necessary reserves, forcing the postponement of investments, or making it impossible to reliably meet financial obligations. He argued that private landlords should not be forced into prolonged court proceedings-sometimes lasting months or years-for tenants who permanently fail to pay rent. These procedures often place the burden of legal costs, time commitment, and lost income onto the landlord, which can become an existential threat for small-scale property owners. This issue is further aggravated by the increasing workload of local courts.
Therefore, House & Grund demands practical regulations to ensure that legitimate claims can be enforced quickly. These demands include swift judicial procedures, better resources for the justice system, and clear protocols for handling massive payment defaults.
The association views a proposed government legislative measure, which aims to extend the payment grace period for standard termination notices, with skepticism. This proposal would allow tenants who have been issued a formal notice of termination due to arrears to potentially cancel the eviction through a lump-sum back payment of the rent. Nearly three-quarters of the members surveyed by House & Grund view such restrictions negatively. Warnecke cautioned against overestimating the resilience of private landlords, warning that failure to do so could increase the risk of owners withdrawing from the rental market, thus removing urgently needed housing from availability.
