Following a ruling by the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court, the rent control mechanism in Hesse will be invalid for the period extending from December 2025 to November 2026. The court stated on Thursday that the state government failed to provide adequate justification for extending the regulation.
The underlying dispute involved a tenant suing her landlords for a refund of overcharged rent. She rented a four-room apartment in Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel starting in June 2024 for a net cold rent of €1,450 per month. According to the Frankfurt rent index, the standard local comparable rent was approximately €1,040. The lease was set to expire in August 2026.
The plaintiff succeeded in her claim for the period covering up to November 2025. However, the court rejected her request for months running from December 2025 to August 2026, concluding that the tenant protection decree governing this period is invalid.
The appellate chamber reasoned that when the government extended the regulation in November 2025, it relied on the same empirical data used in the original 2020 decree. Data that is more than five years old cannot be considered “timely.” Furthermore, the necessary input and feedback from the affected local municipalities had not been re-obtained or assessed.
The judgment initially only applies between the parties involved in the lawsuit. However, the competent chamber of the Regional Court is responsible for all appeals regarding residential tenancy matters in Frankfurt. This decision is not yet final, and given its fundamental importance, the court has referred the case to the Federal Court of Justice for appeal (Revision).
