Following persistent questioning, MP Meris Šehović of the Green Party (Déi Gréng) has received confirmation that Housing Minister Claude Meisch intends to implement a registry of reference values for rents before the end of the current legislative period.
The Parliamentary Housing Committee once again discussed the rent price analysis conducted by the Housing Observatory. Šehović felt the discussion was too academic and wanted to know precisely when the government plans to take action to protect tenants. Through repeated questioning, he was able to obtain from Meisch the commitment that a rent registry is the clear goal.
According to Minister Meisch, such a registry would benefit both investors and tenants by providing an overview of the current rental situation in any given region. He acknowledged that the current law "no longer works and is no longer respected by the courts", adding that "we also agree that it makes no sense to completely respect this law."
However, Meisch also noted unresolved issues related to the establishment of a registry, including whether the age and energy efficiency of homes should be taken into account, and where the necessary data would come from.
As a temporary solution, Minister Meisch wants to have a proposal assessed that was put forward by his party colleague, MP Patrick Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt had proposed using the existing figures from individual municipalities – data the Housing Observatory already possesses – per home, and combining them with the age and potentially the energy class of the property in order to calculate a reference value for a fair rent.
What Minister Meisch wants to avoid at all costs is a rent cap, which he believes would slow down investment in properties and thus hinder the construction of new homes. For MP Šehović, on the other hand, financial performance and tenant protection are not mutually exclusive.
