The government promises transparency regarding leases

Housing Minister Claude Meisch has confirmed the government’s intention to establish a national register of benchmark rents before the current parliamentary term ends. The statement was made during a meeting of the parliamentary committee on housing in response to persistent demands from Meris Šehović, a member of the Green Party (Déi Gréng).

According to the minister, the creation of such a database will benefit both sides of the market: tenants will gain a tool to monitor the fairness of prices, whilst investors will gain a clear understanding of the market situation in specific regions. Meish acknowledged that the current legislation in this area ‘no longer works’ and is often ignored by the courts, making reform inevitable.

Despite reaching agreement in principle, the Ministry still has to resolve a number of technical and conceptual issues. The main challenge lies in determining the assessment criteria: should the age of a building and its energy efficiency rating directly influence the benchmark value, and from which sources will this data be obtained?

A proposal by MP Patrick Goldschmidt is being considered as a temporary solution. He suggests using the municipal data already held by the Housing Observatory, combining it with information on the year of construction and the energy rating of each individual property to calculate a ‘fair’ rent.

The key point of contention remains the issue of rent control. Claude Meish emphasised that the government intends to avoid introducing a strict rent cap at all costs. According to him, such measures would slow the inflow of private investment into property and, as a result, halt the construction of new housing, which would only exacerbate the crisis.