The rent brake in Lower Saxony: from the capital to the islands
Lower Saxony’s tenant-protection ordinance covers large cities, university towns, the Hamburg commuter belt and seven islands.
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Maximum rent at the start of the tenancy
no cap
The municipality is in no ordinance on this date.
| Local reference rent | €11.00/m² |
| Reference rent for your floor area | €682 |
| Rent brake | does not apply here |
| Increase cap | 20 % in three years |
Without the rent brake, Sections 556d ff. BGB set no limit at signing. Later increases still follow Section 558 BGB, with the reference rent and the cap.
How we calculateLower Saxony brings its tenant protection together in the Lower Saxony tenant-protection ordinance of 20 December 2024, amended in December 2025. It has applied since 1 January 2025; the rent brake (Mietpreisbremse) and the 15 per cent increase cap run until 31 December 2029, and the longer five-year notice ban after conversion into condominiums until the end of 2031. All three rules cover the same 57 areas: the state capital Hanover, cities such as Braunschweig, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, Wolfsburg and Göttingen, the Hamburg and Bremen commuter belts with Buxtehude, Seevetal, Stuhr or Lilienthal, and 7 of the East Frisian Islands. 6 joint municipalities (Samtgemeinden) are covered as a whole, with all member municipalities. In Göttingen an assumed reference rent of €9.80 for a 45 m² flat gives a ceiling of €485.10 on new leases; at €520, €34.90 a month would be too much.
One combined ordinance with three sections
The Lower Saxony tenant-protection ordinance sets the rent-brake areas under Section 556d of the Civil Code in its Section 1, the cap areas under Section 558(3) in Section 2 and the notice-ban areas under Section 577a in Section 3. The list is the same three times. The 2020 predecessor expired at the end of 2024; the new one followed without a gap, and the amendment of 3 December 2025 fixed the end of Sections 1 and 2 at the end of 2029.
Göttingen as an example
For a 45 m² flat in Göttingen at €520 and an assumed reference rent of €9.80, the ceiling is €485.10. For an increase from €375 to €441, the cap allows €431.25. For Hanover, the Hanover rent index page explains how the reference rent is found there.
Every area in the ordinance
| Letter | Count | Municipalities |
|---|---|---|
| A | 2 | Achim, Adendorf |
| B | 11 | Bad Rothenfelde, Bad Zwischenahn, Baltrum, Bardowick, Bienenbüttel, Bleckede, Borkum, Bovenden, Braunschweig, Buchholz in der Nordheide, Buxtehude |
| C | 1 | Cuxhaven |
| E | 1 | Emsbüren |
| G | 3 | Garbsen, Gellersen, Göttingen |
| H | 5 | Hannover, Hanstedt, Hatten, Hemmingen, Hildesheim |
| I | 2 | Ilmenau, Isernhagen |
| J | 1 | Juist |
| L | 7 | Laatzen, Langenhagen, Langeoog, Leer, Lilienthal, Lingen, Lüneburg |
| N | 4 | Neu Wulmstorf, Norden, Norderney, Nordhorn |
| O | 4 | Oldenburg, Osnabrück, Ostheide, Oyten |
| R | 2 | Rastede, Rotenburg |
| S | 5 | Seelze, Seevetal, Spiekeroog, Stade, Stuhr |
| T | 1 | Tostedt |
| U | 1 | Uelzen |
| W | 7 | Wangerooge, Wedemark, Weyhe, Winsen, Winsen, Wolfsburg, Wunstorf |