Breaking News: Extension of the Protective Shield for Tenants planned

Extension to March 31, 2021

In spring 2020, the legislature put a protective shield over apartment tenants to prevent the Corona crisis from also having a negative impact on the housing situation of affected tenants. Since some of the measures taken - for example the statutory deferral of rental fees - expire at the end of 2020, the Minister of Justice announced today, December 2nd, 2020, that this period will be extended to March 31, 2021.

Specifically, rental fees which fell due between April 1 and June 30, 2020, are concerned. Any arrears from this period can, according to the current legal regulation, only be sued from January 1, 2021, onwards. As this date is getting closer and an end to the Corona crisis is not in sight, it is now planned to extend this statutory deferral until March 31, 2021. In addition, the possibility of easier postponement of the eviction execution is to be extended until June 30, 2021.

A number questions remain unanswered after this initial announcement from the Ministry of Justice, for example whether the extended deferral will only refer to rental fees which fell due between April 1 and June 30, 2020 and whether landlords will still not be permitted to use deposits. In general, the current legal interventions tend to be at the expense of the landlord, the actual legal regulation is awaited.

However, the following seems clear at this stage: further special regulations in the domain of lease law will most likely benefit only residential tenants. Like for the previous regulations, it should not apply to business premises and lease contracts in the future either.

As soon as the legal regulations are clear, we will report again.