BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The SPD and FDP have agreed to extend the rent freeze beyond 2025. Part of their agreement is also a compromise on the storage of communication data for investigation purposes, as was announced by coalition circles on Wednesday. "The blockade is over," said the SPD parliamentary group. FDP MP Thorsten Lieb said: "The coalition has agreed on the 'quick freeze' procedure at cabinet level." This means that data will be stored in future in a legally secure manner and on an ad hoc basis.

Part of the agreement is the extension of the rent freeze in tight housing markets until 2029, as provided for in the coalition agreement. This is the Ampel's response to the ongoing difficult situation on many housing markets, said Lieb. The rent freeze ensures that, in principle, the rent may not be more than ten percent higher than the local comparative rent when a new rental agreement is concluded. The respective state government decides whether the rent freeze applies in certain areas.

The SPD and Greens would like to see further changes to tenancy law, some of which are also included in the coalition agreement. According to reports, however, neither changes to the maximum increase in existing rents within a certain period (rent cap) nor to the further development of the rent index have yet been agreed with Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), who is responsible for tenancy law.

The President of the German Property Federation, ZIA, Andreas Mattner, said: "I assume that further tightening is now off the table." Otherwise, residential construction in Germany could grind to a halt for years.

With the "quick freeze" procedure, data is only stored if there is a suspicion of a criminal offense of significant importance - such as murder or manslaughter. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) believes that this is not enough. She recently campaigned for a new, legally compliant regulation for the storage of telecommunications traffic and location data without cause. Due to legal uncertainties, the old regulation on data retention had not been used since 2017.

"The current agreement on the introduction of a quick-freeze procedure means that a central demand of the Green Party's civil rights policy is finally being implemented," said Konstantin von Notz, Deputy Chairman of the Green Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The agreement represents "a move away from mass data storage without cause and a decisive step towards a security policy that improves law enforcement and at the same time is proportionate and respects the freedom of citizens".

For months, the SPD in the Bundestag has been calling for more action from Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann to protect against soaring rents. The FDP politician had not yet initiated any of the projects agreed in the coalition agreement, criticized the deputy parliamentary group leaders Verena Hubertz and Dirk Wiese in February. Time is pressing. This is because the rent freeze expires at the end of 2025 and the federal states need a year and a half in advance to extend it. When asked about tenancy law in recent months, Buschmann had usually replied smugly that there were other plans from the coalition agreement that had not yet been implemented - referring to his demand for the introduction of the "quick freeze" procedure.

Two drafts are now to be written relatively soon in the Federal Ministry of Justice: A draft for data storage, which will then be somewhat different to the draft he submitted on this in October 2022, which was met with great criticism from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. As the rent freeze is essentially an existing regulation that is to be extended, it can be assumed that Buschmann will soon send this draft to the other federal government departments for approval. Although the two projects have nothing to do with each other in terms of content, it is likely that they will be approved by the cabinet on the same day./abc/DP/stw