Luxembourg is developing a Rental Rate Cadastre

In response to a parliamentary enquiry by MP Paulette Lenert, the Minister of Housing and Territorial Development, Claude Meisch, confirmed that the authorities are working on the creation of a Rental Rate Cadastre. This tool would allow better monitoring of the rental market, but would not be a mechanism for regulating prices.

The cadastre will be the equivalent of the German Mietspiegel and will be part of the work of the Observatoire de l'Habitat. The main objective is to obtain detailed information on rental costs in different regions.

Luxembourg will follow the example of several European countries:

• France uses a system of Observatories of rental rates,
• The UK is conducting surveys of private landlords,
• Switzerland analyses rentals through property registers, demographic data and administrative databases.

In Luxembourg, the Cadastre will be based on a hedonic model that takes into account the characteristics of the property when calculating the average rental value.

The creation of the Cadastre may be the first step towards the introduction of mandatory registration of lease agreements. However, this issue remains open for the time being.

The Minister emphasised that there are already enough existing laws in place to implement the project, including:

• The Residential Tenancies Act of 21 September 2006 (as amended),
• Law on the Organisation of Public Research Centres of 3 December 2014.

While the Cadastre will not lead to immediate price regulation, it will create a transparent system for monitoring rents, allowing authorities to develop more targeted support measures.

Renters will be better able to navigate real market prices and be protected from inflated rates. In turn, the state will be able to better assess the need for affordable housing.

It is expected that the initial findings of the study will be used to inform future reforms in the rental sector.