In a dispute over rent for a Frankfurt apartment, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court found on November 4, 2026, that Hesse’s extended rent cap was invalid for December 2025 through November 2026. The judges found the state had given inadequate reasons for extending its ordinance. The court said on November 5 that the appellate judgment applies only to the parties in the Frankfurt rent dispute and is still open to appeal.
Key facts
- The case concerns Hesse’s November 2025 extension. The court found that the state relied on outdated evidence when it renewed the ordinance.
- A Frankfurt tenant succeeded in claiming a refund through November 2025. The court dismissed her claim for December 2025 through August 2026.
- The court granted leave to appeal to the Federal Court of Justice. Hesse’s economics ministry expects the state cabinet to adopt a replacement ordinance around mid-November.
Why did the court split the tenant’s claim?
The tenant rented a four-room apartment in Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel from June 2024. The initial rent excluding charges was €1,450. The local reference rent for the apartment was about €1,040 under Frankfurt’s rent index. The tenancy ended in August 2026. Those figures are the starting amounts in the case. The court’s announcement gives no total refund amount.
The court split the claim according to which version of the state ordinance applied to each period. It upheld the claim for the months covered by the original ordinance through November 2025. The court rejected the later part of the claim on that basis because it considered the 2025 extension invalid. The court says the civil chamber that issued the decision hears all appeals in Frankfurt residential tenancy disputes.
What evidence does a state need to impose the cap?
Under section 556d of the German Civil Code, the initial rent in an area validly designated as having a tight housing market generally cannot exceed the local reference rent by more than 10 percent. The state government must identify the facts supporting its designation and explain what it will do about housing market pressures in that area.
The cap concerns rent at the start of a tenancy. The ministry distinguishes it from the separate limit on increases during an existing tenancy. Its overview also identifies federal exceptions to the rent cap, including the first letting after substantial modernisation. The Frankfurt case concerned a refund of rent an individual tenant had already paid.
The chamber found that Hesse had used the same empirical data for its November 2025 extension as it had for the original 2020 ordinance. The state also failed to obtain and assess new statements from the affected municipalities, even though its own reasoning treated those statements as necessary. The court therefore found that the state had no up-to-date basis for its assessment of local housing markets.
What would Hesse’s replacement cover?
The Hesse economics ministry’s overview lists 49 municipalities in the previous designation, including Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden. The draft replacement would cover 71 municipalities, based on a July 2026 study and preliminary consultation with municipalities in August. The ministry expects the cabinet to adopt the replacement around mid-November 2026.
| Ordinance | Period or status | Effect on the rent cap |
|---|---|---|
| Original ordinance | November 2020 to November 2025 | Basis for the successful part of the Frankfurt claim |
| 2025 extension | December 2025 to November 2026 | Held invalid in the Frankfurt case |
| Proposed replacement | Cabinet decision expected around mid-November 2026 | Rent cap envisaged for 71 municipalities for three more years |
The proposed replacement would set a new three-year period for the rent cap. The Frankfurt ruling concerns the earlier extension. Whether the Federal Court of Justice examines the reasoning for that extension depends on whether an appeal is filed.
