Dortmund rent index: base rent plus adjustments
Year built and floor area give the base; the area and the fittings add or subtract euros per square metre.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Maximum rent at the start of the tenancy
€429.66
€390.34 too much per month
| Local reference rent | €6.30/m² |
| Reference rent for your floor area | €390.60 |
| Range in the rent index | 5.43–7.18 €/m² |
| Rent brake | applies until 31 December 2029 |
| Increase cap | 15 % in three years |
| Limit: reference rent + 10% | €429.66 |
You can only reclaim after a written complaint. If it arrives within 30 months of the start and the tenancy is still running, it reaches back to the start (Section 556g(2) BGB).
How we calculateDortmund's 2025/2026 rent index (Mietspiegel) is a qualified index from the city's housing office, valid from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026 and published in the city's official gazette of 20 December 2024. It works differently from the Berlin and Hamburg tables: a base table gives the mean and range for nine construction periods from before 1910 to 2019, for flats of 60 to 80 m². To this base, adjustments in euros per square metre are added, to the mean and to both ends of the range alike: for flat size, type of flat, bathroom, flooring, heating, windows, balcony, lift, modernisations and area. The city's own worked example, a 1950 flat of 63 m² in Innenstadt-Nord, goes from a base of €6.29 plus €0.81 of adjustments to €7.10 per square metre, with a range of €6.04 to €8.22. Dortmund is listed in North Rhine-Westphalia's tenant-protection ordinance: rent brake until 31 December 2029 and a 15 per cent cap.
How the Dortmund index calculates
First the base rent from the construction period. Then size: flats outside the reference size of 60 to 80 m² get a premium or deduction. Next the features that differ from the standard: the standard is a bathroom with toilet and bath, laminate or plain vinyl, central heating, double glazing and a balcony. A shower, parquet or a lift earns a premium; stoves or no balcony a deduction. Finally the area. All amounts are euros per square metre and are added, to the range limits too. The values come from the City of Dortmund rent index, published as an official notice and as open data under the German open-data licence Zero.
| Flat | Base | Adjustments | Reference rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950, 63 m², Innenstadt-Nord, city example | €6.29 | €0.81 | €7.10 |
| 1965, 38 m², Innenstadt-Mitte | €6.30 | €1.83 | €8.13 |
| 2016, 85 m², Hörde, underfloor heating, low-barrier | €10.19 | €1.14 | €11.33 |
What it means for your rent
On a new lease in Dortmund the rent may be at most ten per cent above the reference rent. For the city's example flat that is €492.03 a month; at an agreed €560 you overpay €67.97. For increases the lowered 15 per cent cap applies, as in the other towns of the North Rhine-Westphalia ordinance. Neighbouring Essen is not in the ordinance; the Essen rent index page explains what that means. The index expires at the end of 2026; a new edition is expected from 2027, and the calculator will switch once it is published.