New guidelines for rental values in Austria

From April 1st the guideline values for rental prices in Vienna rose to EUR 6.15 sq. m. However, select cities such as Vosendorf and Traiskirchen, will not change the values at all, as a result of their own initiative.

The Austrian government announced the new guidelines regarding the reference values for individual provinces, which are effective from April 1st 2023. The values are the base of the calculation of old building rental prices, along with select municipal building rents. The average increase is nearly 8.6%.

In Vienna, the guideline value has risen to EUR 6.67 from EUR 6.15 per sq. m, whilst Vorarlberg has the highest guide value, which surpassed the ten-euro mark for the first time ever, amounting to EUR 10.25 per sq. m. The lowest value is in Burgenland at EUR 5.61, which remains the same even after the change of guidelines.

Landlords who wish to enforce the newly announced guidelines onto their renters are obliged to comply with the Tenancy Law Act. The law states that the request for an increase has to be in written form, and may only be submitted once the new regulations come into force. If the request is sent too early, it is not considered legally effective. On top of that, the landlord has to notify the tenant at least 14 days before the interest rate date for the requested increase.

Some cities with their own municipal housing have decided to create a rental price brake on their own. For instance, in Graz and in Innsbruck, the rental prices in 11,200 municipal apartments will increase just by 2%, whilst the values in Linz will be slightly higher at 4.3%. The mayors of Vosendorf and Traiskirchen have suspended the rent increase for their districts.