Cost or supply are one thing, but Germany definitely has strong tenancy rights.
Cyprus likes to pride itself as having strong tenancy rights too, but it’s not even half of what I enjoy in Germany. I didn’t even have to get permission to hang a picture on the wall.
Wait what? People can not hang pictures without their landlord’s permission in other countries?
Where German rental contracts say “any alterations need to be reverted for handover”, rental contracts where I originally come from say “any alternations are forbidden without the express permission of the lessor”.
Though, you typically also make a deposit at the beginning, which you can either get back if you leave the place in a close to the original state, or leave it with the landlord to pay for the work needed.
Not being able to do anything without explicit permission sounds wild though, and potentially also annoying for the landlords.
That’s all nice and all, but tenancy rights are kind of moot, if you can’t afford a reasonably sized apartment or even find anything at all.
The only real tenant rights are not being able to be kicked out for no reason and legal protection of children. That’s about it.
Landlords still can and will raise your rent irresponsibly and add any kind of extra cost to your rent. All that without providing anything more.
