The rent brake in North Rhine-Westphalia: where and until when
One annex, three rules: if you live in one of the NRW ordinance’s municipalities, you have the rent brake, the 15 per cent cap and a longer notice ban.
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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 calculateNorth Rhine-Westphalia brings its tenant protection together in the tenant-protection ordinance (Mieterschutzverordnung) of 28 January 2025. Its annex lists 57 municipalities where three rules apply: the rent brake (Mietpreisbremse) on new leases until 31 December 2029, the 15 per cent cap on rent increases, and an eight-year notice ban after conversion into condominiums, the last two until 28 February 2030. The rent brake was originally to end in late 2025; an amending ordinance of 28 October 2025 extended it to 2029 without changing the list. Large cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Münster, Dortmund and Aachen are covered, and many towns in the Rhineland, especially in the Rhein-Sieg and Rhein-Erft districts. Essen, Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen are not. In Münster an assumed reference rent of €10.50 for 68 m² gives a ceiling of €785.40 on new leases.
One ordinance for three sections
The NRW tenant-protection ordinance rests on Section 556d, Section 558(3) and Section 577a of the Civil Code and has a single annex. It took effect on 1 March 2025, replacing the 2020 ordinance. The list gives each municipality's district and administrative region, and the table below follows that structure. A slip in the official text places Kaarst in the Mettmann district although the town belongs to the Rhein-Kreis Neuss; what counts is the municipality's name.
Münster as an example
A new 68 m² lease at €850: with the assumed reference rent of €10.50, the ceiling is €785.40, and the agreed rent is €64.60 above it. For an increase from €607 to €714, the cap allows €698.05. The rent indexes of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen have their own pages.
Every municipality in the ordinance
| District | Count | Municipalities |
|---|---|---|
| Städteregion Aachen | 1 | Aachen |
| Rhein-Sieg-Kreis | 13 | Alfter, Bornheim, Hennef, Königswinter, Lohmar, Meckenheim, Niederkassel, Rheinbach, Sankt Augustin, Siegburg, Swisttal, Troisdorf, Wachtberg |
| Kreis Paderborn | 2 | Bad Lippspringe, Paderborn |
| Rhein-Erft-Kreis | 9 | Bergheim, Brühl, Elsdorf, Erftstadt, Frechen, Hürth, Kerpen, Pulheim, Wesseling |
| Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis | 4 | Bergisch Gladbach, Leichlingen, Overath, Rösrath |
| independent cities | 8 | Bielefeld, Bonn, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Köln, Krefeld, Leverkusen, Münster |
| Rhein-Kreis Neuss | 6 | Dormagen, Grevenbroich, Korschenbroich, Meerbusch, Neuss, Rommerskirchen |
| Kreis Düren | 1 | Düren |
| Kreis Mettmann | 6 | Erkrath, Hilden, Kaarst, Langenfeld, Monheim, Ratingen |
| Kreis Steinfurt | 2 | Greven, Lotte |
| Kreis Gütersloh | 1 | Harsewinkel |
| Kreis Viersen | 1 | Kempen |
| Kreis Warendorf | 2 | Ostbevern, Telgte |
| Kreis Euskirchen | 1 | Weilerswist |