Apartment rents increase in 2022 depending on the length of the contract

Tenants of flats based on a several-year contract must expect a 5.1% increase in the rent price this year. Tenants who have concluded lease agreements for one year may find themselves in a worse situation.

According to Marek Wielgo, an expert of GetHome.pl portal, During the term of a several-year lease agreement, the owner of the apartment may adjust the rent to the inflation rate every year. The annual average inflation rate is announced in January by the president of the Central Statistical Office. The latest ratio is 5.1%, which means that long-term tenants must take into account such rent increase this year. In the case of rent of 2,000 PLN, the increase will be approx. PLN 100.

– On the other hand, each extension of the annual lease agreement is an opportunity for the landlord to increase the rent, if the market situation allows it – emphasizes Marek Wielgo. In 2020, when many landlords were due to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław were forced to cut rents. The demand for them has clearly shrunk, mainly due to the transition of many universities to remote mode. Many foreigners also resigned from the lease.

However, in the second half of 2021, the market situation changed dramatically. According to AMRON, in the third quarter, the average rent in Warsaw and Krakow increased by over 8%. Moreover, according to the data of the Unirepo.pl website, which analyzes offers on 38 advertising portals, at the end of 2021, the situation on the rental market looked dramatic in terms of the number of offers. In November, there were half as many of them as in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Apart from the rent, landlords also charge fees, the amount of which does not depend on them, e.g. for water, sewage, or garbage collection. Unfortunately, housing maintenance is the fastest-growing item in the household budgets of many Polish families. The Central Statistical Office has just announced that in December 2021, rents, including utilities, were as much as 11.2% higher than in the corresponding period a year earlier. The pace of growth is therefore much faster than the inflation rate estimated by the Central Statistical Office at 8.6%.

The increases in heating costs and energy prices were the most severe for the pockets of apartment owners and tenants. For example, fuel prices went up by an average of 39.8%, and gas – by 18.8%. For another year in a row, fees for garbage collection increased – this time by an average of 16.2%. The CSO also informed that in December the owners’ fee was 6.4% higher than in 2020. This hike was therefore lower than the inflation rate.