The announced revisions to Germany’s Building Modernisation Act have been described by Left‑Party parliamentary leader Heidi Reichinnek as a “double blow of stupidity”. She argues that recent developments last week – and the looming price shocks triggered by the recent attacks on Iran – illustrate once again how misguided it is to keep the country and its citizens tethered to the fossil‑fuel industry.
Reichinnek also warns that the new law will place “massive additional burdens” on renters in particular. She says they are “exposed and powerless” unable to influence the type of heating installed in their homes, and will be left to shoulder the forecasted, sharply rising gas costs without relief.
She called the Social Democratic Party’s behaviour “particularly absurd”. According to Reichinnek, the SPD has negotiated a law with the governing coalition while only after the policy details emerged does it claim to protect renters. The party’s public stance contrasts with earlier calls by several social democrats for robust tenant safeguards in the rewrite.
Both the union and the SPD say they intend to protect tenants who have no say over their heating systems from exorbitant ancillary costs that could arise from the installation of inefficient heating technologies. However, specifics on how that protection will be implemented remain unfinalised.
