One of the largest residential landlords in Germany has revealed it has put rent increases on hold, and activated special housing offers for essential workers as part of a raft of moves to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
LEG CEO Lars von Lackum told PropertyEU that Germany was 'facing enormous challenges' as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, with job losses leading to financial trouble for many. 'Therefore, it is necessary to create financial security for our tenants - we want to help people to keep a roof over their heads,' von Lackum said.
LEG's home market of Nordrhein-Westfalen has introduced additional measures on top of government provisions for the pandemic, including facilitating access to housing subsidies. But the firm, which has around 136,000 rental properties and more than 365,000 residents, said it was also trying to stay a step ahead of state guidelines.
'We take our responsibility for society as a whole very seriously and, even before the federal law had been passed, we published our own paper 'Overcoming the corona crisis together: LEG's 10-point paper to protect and safeguard customers and employees', which by the way surpasses the new legal protective measures by far,' noted von Lackum.
While working towards 'the magic triangle of customer satisfaction, sustainability and profitablilty', von Lackum said that the pandemic had also distilled important truths, including the fact that 'in times of corona, our home is the most important retreat we have'.
Ten measures
In a bid to meet and antcipate its tenants' needs during the crisis, von Lackum said that LEG has adopted ten measures to promote the home as a 'safe environment' during the pandemic.
Amongst those, 'we are making a special offer for a new home to all system-relevant community helpers (e.g. doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters). As a small thank you, we offer them a 20% discount on the basic rent when they rent a new LEG apartment for more than two years – until September 30, 2022. Our offer is valid with immediate effect for all rental agreements concluded over the next six months,' Lackum said. Some 97 essential workers have to date taken up the opportunity.
Von Lackum added: 'Until further notice, we will not increase rents up to the local reference rents as provided for in section 558 of the German Civil Code (BGB), which means that from now on we will refrain from sending out rent increase letters for the time being.
'There will be no evictions of occupied apartments. We will not pursue any rent and eviction suits for the time being. We will conclude instalment payment agreements with tenants who are unable to pay their rent due to the corona crisis. These arrangements for rent payment deferrals are currently planned for up to six months.'
Furthermore, 'our new foundation will support initiatives with a total of €1 mln this year, thereby helping tenants and households particularly affected by the corona crisis,' von Lackum said.
LEG employs a staff of around 1400 employees and achieved sales worth € 809.4 mln in the 2019 fiscal year.
