Investor Guide
2026-10-10 08:15

Wertsicherungsklausel (indexation clause): Only a Long Lease May Index — and the Wording Decides How Much

A Wertsicherungsklausel ties the rent automatically to a consumer price index — permitted in a commercial lease only where the landlord is bound for at least ten years or the tenant can extend the term to ten. In food retail the retailer's own wording — thresholds, partial pass-through, timing — then decides how much inflation reaches the landlord.

What it is

Automatic price clauses are prohibited in principle: a debt may not be determined directly and automatically by the price or value of goods or services that are not comparable (§ 1(1) PrKG). For long-term contracts, the Price Clause Act permits them where (§ 3(1) no. 1 lit. d, e PrKG):
  • payments run for at least ten years from conclusion of the contract to the last payment, or the landlord waives ordinary termination for at least ten years, or the tenant has the right to extend the term to at least ten years; and
  • the rent follows a cost-of-living price index of the Federal Statistical Office or a state statistical office, or the consumer price index of the EU statistical office.
The clause must be sufficiently precise and must not unreasonably disadvantage either party — for example by raising the rent when prices rise without lowering it when they fall (§ 2(1), (3) PrKG). Clauses that leave the size of the change to be set on equitable principles fall outside the prohibition (§ 1(2) no. 1 PrKG). A clause that breaches the Act becomes invalid only when a court finally establishes the breach, unless the parties agreed earlier invalidity; until then it takes effect (§ 8 PrKG).

Why it matters to investors

In a long food-retail lease, indexation is how the rent keeps pace with inflation, and its details follow the retailer's template. Clauses often apply only once inflation passes a threshold and then pass on only part of it (Part 2). In the Part 11 example, passing on 70% of 2% inflation lifts a €500,000 rent to €566,600 by year ten. Full pass-through would reach about €597,500 (our calculation) — some €31,000 a year more from the same store.
Timing costs money too. In our experience, some clauses raise the rent only from the month after the landlord's written request, so a threshold that passes unnoticed is rent lost for good (Part 10).

What to check

• Whether the fixed term, a termination waiver or the tenant's options reach the ten-year minimum.
• The index named, the threshold, the share passed on and whether the clause also works downwards.
• Whether adjustments are automatic or require a written request — and whether a threshold has already been crossed unclaimed.
• Whether the lease provides for earlier invalidity than § 8 PrKG.
Related terms: Schriftform (§ 550 BGB) · Betriebskosten · Ankermieter
Sources: Preisklauselgesetz (PrKG) §§ 1, 2, 3, 8; Gordon Real Estate Group, "German Prime Retail", Parts 2, 10 and 11. Legal position as of 10 October 2026.
Photo: Peter Herrmann / Unsplash
This entry is general information and not legal or tax advice.