A good and secure home - Degewo

8
The most important key points of the Rent Alliance
To provide for broad sections of the population, the municipal
housing societies offer living space at affordable rents.
They strive to keep their rent levels bearable following refurbishment
and when concluding new contracts, as well.
Lower-income households in particular should be able to find
good and secure housing with the municipal housing societies.
For this reason, in the Rent Alliance, the municipal housing
societies have committed themselves to a discerning rent
policy.
• They limit their general rent increases in privately-funded
housing to a maximum of 15 percent within four years, in
so far as permitted by the Berlin rent index (Berliner Mietspiegel).
• The municipal housing societies limit building modernisation
contributions in privately-funded housing to a maximum
of nine percent of expenses incurred per year. Rents
should still be affordable after modernisation measures
have been carried out.
• In the case of first-time rental contracts, the housing societies
will rent every second flat within the S-Bahn ring and
every third flat outside it for the local reference rent
(“ortsübliche Vergleichsmiete”) to households which have
a certificate of eligibility to public housing (“Wohnberechtigungsschein”
or “WBS”).
• A joint pool of flats will make fair flat exchanges possible
should a tenant require a flat at least 10 percent smaller
than the one presently let. In the case of an exchange, the
housing societies guarantee that the new gross warm rent
(“Bruttowarmmiete“ – includes net rent and all further
unavoidable costs such as heating, street cleaning, etc.)