Graduated rent: what the lease may fix in advance
With a graduated rent every future rise is already in the lease, and in return other rent increases are ruled out.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
A rent step under the rent brake
Lawful for this step
€660
| Too much per month | €30 |
| Too much over a year of the step | €360 |
Applies only if the municipality is under the rent brake when the step falls due.
A graduated rent (Staffelmiete) under Section 557a of the German Civil Code (BGB) sets out in the lease what the rent will be for successive periods. The agreement must be in writing, each step must state the rent or the rise as an amount in euros, and at least a year must pass between two steps. While the steps run, the landlord cannot raise the rent to the local reference rent or pass on modernisation costs under Sections 558 to 559b; service charges can still change. The tenant’s right to give notice may be excluded for no more than four years from signing. Where the rent brake (Mietpreisbremse) applies, the ceiling of reference rent plus 10 per cent applies to every step, measured on the day that step falls due. Example: 70 m², reference rent €12.00 per m², so a ceiling of €924.00. Steps rise from €880 to €970: from 1 January 2028, with an unchanged reference rent, the rent would exceed the ceiling, by €46.00 a month in the last step.
What a graduated rent is
With a graduated rent, landlord and tenant agree in the lease how the rent will develop: this much from February 2026, that much from February 2027. In return the landlord gives up every other way of raising the rent. You know in advance what you will pay, but you carry the risk that the steps rise faster than the market. The rules are in Section 557a BGB, and none of them can be varied to the tenant’s disadvantage.
Form and content
- In writing. The graduated rent must be agreed in writing (Schriftform), meaning a document signed by both parties, usually the lease itself. An e-mail or a later notice from the landlord is not enough.
- Amounts in euros. Each step states the new rent or the rise as a sum of money. Percentages or a formula do not qualify.
- At least a year. The rent must stay unchanged for at least 12 months at a time. The law sets no maximum number of steps and no maximum term.
What is ruled out while the steps run
As long as the graduated rent runs, increases under Sections 558 to 559b BGB are excluded. That covers raising the rent to the local reference rent as well as passing on modernisation costs. The increase cap therefore plays no part during the steps, because there is no increase under Section 558 for it to limit. Section 560 BGB is not blocked: the landlord may adjust service-charge advances after a statement, and raise an agreed flat rate if the lease allows it.
A notice waiver of up to four years
A landlord may combine a graduated rent with the tenant giving up the right to terminate, but only for up to four years from the date the graduated-rent agreement was made. Notice can take effect no earlier than the end of that period. The clock starts at signing, not on moving in. If you sign on 15 December 2025 and move in on 1 February 2026, you are bound until 15 December 2029. Because a tenant’s notice takes effect at the end of a month, the tenancy can end on 31 December 2029 at the earliest. The notice period calculator shows when a letter with the usual three months’ notice must arrive. A waiver for more than four years is not valid.
The rent brake applies to every step
If the flat is in a municipality covered by a state ordinance under Section 556d BGB, even the first rent may exceed the reference rent by no more than 10 per cent. A graduated rent adds a twist: Section 557a(4) BGB applies the rent brake to each step. For the second and every later step, what counts is not the start of the tenancy but the day the first rent of that step falls due. The reference rent on that day is the yardstick, and the municipality must still be covered by the ordinance at that point. A rent level validly reached in an earlier step is kept.
The example: 70 m², lease signed on 15 December 2025, an assumed reference rent of €12.00 per m², which for simplicity we hold constant throughout. The ceiling is €924.00 a month.
| Step from | Rent | Rise | At least a year apart | Rent-brake ceiling | Above it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 February 2026 | €880.00 | starting rent | yes | €924.00 | no |
| 1 February 2027 | €910.00 | €30.00 | yes | €924.00 | no |
| 1 January 2028 | €940.00 | €30.00 | no | €924.00 | €16.00 |
| 1 January 2029 | €970.00 | €30.00 | yes | €924.00 | €46.00 |
This schedule contains two flaws. The step from 1 January 2028 comes too early: a year after the previous step only ends on 1 February 2028, and until then you owe the previous step. And from 1 January 2028 the rent would be above the rent-brake ceiling if the reference rent stayed put, by €46.00 a month or €552.00 a year in the last step. If the reference rent rises before a step falls due, the ceiling rises too, so check each step against the rent index valid on its due date, in the rent brake calculator or with the small calculator above.
Overpaid rent from a step is reclaimed as with any rent brake case, with a complaint in text form; Section 556g(2) BGB sets how far back the refund reaches. For leases signed before the municipality was added to an ordinance, a transitional rule in Article 229 Section 35 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code (EGBGB) disapplies subsection 4.
Graduated, index-linked or reference rent?
A German lease has exactly one route by which the base rent goes up. Without a special clause, the landlord raises it under Section 558 BGB towards the reference rent, limited by the cap and waiting periods. With a graduated rent the rises are written into the lease. With an index-linked rent (Indexmiete) the rent tracks the consumer price index. The differences that matter day to day:
- Predictability. A graduated rent is known to the euro; an index rent depends on inflation, the reference rent on the next rent index.
- Rent brake. It applies to every step of a graduated rent, but only to the starting rent of an index-linked lease.
- Modernisation. A surcharge is excluded during the steps, possible only in narrow cases under an index rent, and otherwise allowed under the general rules.
- After the end. After the last step the general rules apply again; a demand under Section 558 is possible 12 months after that step at the earliest, from 1 January 2030 in the example.
If you are asked to sign a lease with steps, check first whether the first step respects the rent brake, then the spacing of the steps, the form and the length of any notice waiver. How an increase works once the steps are over is explained on the rent increase page.