Overview
- North Rhine–Westphalia’s cabinet approved the draft on March 17 and opened a stakeholder hearing through mid‑April, with Landtag debate slated for June and potential enactment later in 2026.
- The proposal sets a general habitability standard and explicitly bans exploitative accommodation practices, with media reporting fines of up to €500,000.
- Municipalities could place neglected buildings into trust administration when owners remain inactive and, as a last resort, pursue expropriation under strict conditions after failed purchase attempts and with planned reuse for housing.
- The package expands data sharing across local authorities, Jobcenters, family benefits offices and police, including cross‑border exchanges, and NRW plans a Bundesrat initiative to let agencies withhold social‑benefit rent flows to abusive landlords while deeming tenants paid up.
- Local measures include an optional ‘Faire Unterkunft’ registration and quality label for worker housing in affected cities and a cut in unregulated short‑term rentals from 90 to 56 nights per year, following March raids that documented severe defects and rents up to €42 per square metre.