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According to the partly contradictory supreme court case law1, which had declared value protection clauses invalid in particular in residential rental contracts with “consumers” due to violation of the Consumer Protection Act, the legislator has now intervened. The aim of the amendment was to create legal certainty for residential landlords, but at the same time with the Civil Law Indexation Adjustment Act2 also to cap or reduce index adjustments.
The new Rent Value Insurance Act3 Is on Rental contracts for apartments Can be used in the full and partial areas of application of the MRG. In order to be considered an apartment, the rental property must not be rented primarily for business purposes. In addition, rented single-family and two-family houses in particular are excluded. In future, the rent may be increased once a year, on April 1.
The Act came into force on January 1, 2026, but the provisions on limiting value protection also apply to contracts that were concluded before that.
As the earliest adjustment date, the Act only allows April 1 of the full calendar year following the conclusion of the rental agreement.
If the rental agreement is concluded in February 2026, for example, the first valorization will only take place on April 1, 2027. Furthermore, changes must only be taken into account on a pro rata basis. The first valorization on April 1, 2027 is therefore based on the change in 2026, but only to the extent of ten twelfths, because yes — in this case — the rental agreement was only concluded in February 2026.
The adjustment is based on CPI (Consumer Price Index 2020). The change in the previous calendar year is decisive.
There are now further limits on index increases for benchmark and category leases: If the average annual change in the CPI exceeds three percent, only half of this excess is taken into account in the fee increase. Any reduction due to exceeding the 3 percent limit must be made before a pro rata adjustment is calculated.
Example: Let's assume that the consumer price index rises by 5% within a year.
In this example, the effective rent increase is therefore 4% in total.
For 2025, the adjustment of which will take place on April 1, 2026, a value guarantee of a maximum of 1% and for 2026 of a maximum of 2%. This also includes graduated rent agreed in terms of amount or percentage, provided that these amount to an inflation-related adjustment.
Instead of a value protection clause, the legislator also explicitly provides that the security can be agreed by the phrase “Secured in accordance with Section 1 Paragraph 2 (and 3) of the Rent Protection Act.” This is also possible for contracts that are not subject to MieWeg. However, the price of legal certainty is a restriction on possible increases.
For rental agreements concluded before January 1, 2026, if the value protection agreement is invalid, only rent payments made in the last five years before the termination of the contract can be recovered. If the rental agreement continues to exist, only the last 5 years before becoming aware of the legal invalidity and the claim for recovery can be reclaimed. In addition, these payments must be recovered within three years of becoming aware of the legal invalidity and the claim for recovery, but no later than within 30 years.
Sections 16 (9) and 27 (3) MRG remain unaffected. These relate to exceeding the maximum allowable rent as a result of asserting a value guarantee and the recovery of prohibited replacements, etc.
We would be happy to advise you in more detail on the new legal situation!
Johannes Reich-Rohrwig
1 Supreme Court 6 Ob 226/18f; 2 Ob 36/23t; 8 Ob 37/23h; 5 Ob 89/23h; 8 Ob 6/24a; 10 Ob 23/24s; 10 Ob 54/24z; 1 Ob 64/24d; 8 Ob 81/24f; 10 Ob 15/25s.
2 See the article Civil Law Indexing Adjustment Act.
3 Federal Law Gazette I 114/2025.
