Reader question: Why is a later written rent agreement not simply a normal index adjustment?
You live in the flat on a permanent basis. After some time the landlord sends an addendum with a higher main rent and states that this is possible after one year. Before you sign, clarify whether an existing adjustment clause is being executed or a new agreement is being requested. Those are different processes.
What the specific factual situation actually states
§16 paragraph 1 number 5 MRG describes a constellation with a permanent tenancy, more than one year since handover of the leased item and a written agreement about the amount of the main rent. If the prerequisites of paragraph 1 are met, the amount designated there as reasonable is decisive. [MRG16]
That is neither the statement that every rent automatically increases after one year, nor an equation of reasonable with arbitrarily free. The factual situation contains an agreement; its existence and its legal significance must be examined concretely. The relevant MRG framework must also be determined. [MRG1]
Begin the timeline at the correct event
Our editorial recommendation: note contract conclusion and actual handover separately. The statutory text names the handover for the past year. A contract date on the cover sheet is therefore not a reliable substitute for this fact.
Also check whether a permanent tenancy actually exists. An earlier end date, a later extension or an alleged conversion require the appropriate documents. Leave contradictions unresolved until they are clarified; do not invent a point in time just to make the one-year calculation simple.
Distinguish offer, declaration and existing clause
Read the addendum to see exactly what is to be newly confirmed. Does only an amount change or are additional areas, cost components, waivers or further annexes being added? Keep the previous contract version alongside it.
Ask explicitly whether the landlord is seeking consent to a new rent and on what standard it bases the amount. If instead an existing index clause is cited, its separate examination should not be skipped by an incidental new signature. This article does not declare any specific clause to be valid or invalid.
A fictitious addendum
In Juri’s case the covering letter says only “annual adjustment”. The attached text, however, specifies a main rent to be newly agreed. Juri submits both texts to advice and has the handover date, the status of any term and the legal basis examined.
He does not treat the description in the covering text as a definitive legal characterisation. Nor does he assume that every subsequent agreement must automatically have the same effects. The actual declaration is decisive.
The amount needs its own basis
Paragraph 1 links the reasonable amount with characteristics such as size, type, condition, location as well as fittings and state of repair. [MRG16] A sentence “Everything is more expensive today” does not replace this classification. Comparative offers can prompt an examination, but by themselves do not provide binding confirmation.
Before becoming bound, therefore, four points should be clear: previous status, actual reason for the change, prerequisites of the chosen route and derivation of the demanded amount. The article does not make a decision about a specific signature and does not recommend an unauthorised change to ongoing payments. It prevents a new agreement text from being overlooked as an allegedly automatic annual routine.