Full Breakdown
German Tenants Face Heat-Wave Crisis as Laws Lag Behind
7/17/2026, 8:55:03 AM
Escalating Indoor Temperatures
During a heat wave that peaked on June 26 2026, Darya * returned to her attic flat in Bochum to find indoor temperatures of 31 °C, higher than the 39 °C outside. The flat, built without external blinds or air-conditioning, forces residents to rely on fans and frozen bottles of water. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recorded an estimated 5,120 heat-related deaths in Germany up to that point, more than double the 2,600 deaths reported for the entire 2025 year.
Legal Gaps in Heat Protection
German tenancy law guarantees a minimum winter temperature of 21 °C but contains no summer temperature target. As lawyer Michael Selk explains, the Federal Court of Justice affirms a right to “sufficiently warm rooms (20–24 °C) … but no right to cooling.” 75 % of Germany’s housing stock was built before 1990, meaning many rentals do not meet the Building Energy Act’s (GEG) modern overheating limits. Landlords are only required to provide standards that applied at construction, and tenants have no automatic right to modernization.
Stakeholder Views
Trinidad Fernandez of the Fraunhofer Institute argues that heat resilience must become a core housing requirement. Selk contends that occupational-health thresholds of 26 °C used in commercial leases should also apply to residences. Inka-Marie Storm of Haus & Grund stresses that “reliable economic conditions” and subsidy programs are essential for landlords to finance upgrades. Chancellor Friedrich Merz echoed these concerns at a July 15 press conference, calling for building-code reforms that address climate-change impacts on vulnerable groups.
Calls for Reform and Funding
Experts propose shifting from emergency responses to “prevention by design,” integrating active and passive cooling in both new and existing buildings. Fernandez urges the government to set clear temperature standards and provide financing, while Storm highlights the need for investment-friendly subsidies and tenancy-law adjustments to make modernization feasible for owners and tenants alike.
Verbatim Quotes
- “This flat turns into a thermos over the summer,” — Darya, tenant
- “We need to treat heat resilience as a core requirement of good housing and also good urban planning,” — Trinidad Fernandez, Fraunhofer Institute
- “In my personal opinion, there is certainly a right to have a temperature limit upheld. What applies to commercial leases, must apply even more so to residential tenancies,” — Michael Selk, rental-law attorney
- “In particular, investment-friendly subsidy programs, tax incentives and tenancy laws that make it reasonably feasible to finance necessary modernizations,” — Inka-Marie Storm, Haus & Grund
- “We cannot stop climate change from within Europe, and that is why a second major challenge will be to live with climate change — and this must be reflected in building codes, in healthcare and in the protection of particularly vulnerable groups,” — Chancellor Friedrich Merz
