BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) and the German Tenants' Association are calling for a fairer distribution of costs for energy modernization of rental apartments. "Climate protection in the building sector must be successful and socially just," said BUND Managing Director Antje von Broock on Wednesday.

The two associations want to reduce the so-called modernization levy from eight to a uniform three percent in order to protect tenants from excessive rent increases after apartment renovations. The levy is the proportion of investments that landlords are allowed to pass on to tenants each year.

At the same time, BUND and the tenants' association are proposing that the requirement for landlords to carry out refurbishments be increased in order to create more incentives for more in-depth climate-friendly modernization. Landlords should be allowed to keep the state subsidy in return for the reduced modernization levy.

Higher rents due to modernization levy

The modernization levy is eight percent. If a claim is made when a heating system is replaced, ten percent of the costs may be passed on to tenants. This leads to an increase in rents, which is a particular problem for lower-income tenants, said Melanie Weber-Moritz, Federal Director of the German Tenants' Association. Tenants are currently bearing the brunt of energy modernization measures. The federal government must change this.

The demand is based on the one-third model, which is intended to provide a fairer distribution of costs between landlords, tenants and the public sector. BUND and the tenants' association commissioned a study from the Ifeu Institute in Heidelberg to calculate this model. "The results of our study show that a reduction in the modernization levy to three percent is necessary for socially acceptable refurbishment," emphasized Weber-Moritz.

Peter Mellwig from the Ifeu Institute explained that the study showed that energy-efficient refurbishments would remain neutral in terms of warm rents for tenants with the one-third model. It was not calculated what the costs of the state subsidy program would amount to./pul/DP/nas