Planned amendment to the Austrian Student Residence Act to be reviewed today

Co-author: Mag. Elias Pressler

A planned amendment to the Austrian Student Residence Act was presented this week by the Ministry of Science. According to the ministry, it will be published today.

Background

The current Austrian Student Residence Act (StudHG) dates from 1986 and was last amended in 1999. Since in 1986 almost exclusively non-profit dormitories were operated, the law is designed for such dormitories.

In recent years, however, more and more private investors have been striving to enter the student accommodation market – as the minister Heinz Faßmann himself admits, this is also due to the lack of housing construction despite growing cities and a steadily increasing number of students:

“We have built too little – also for students.”

Planned amendments

As a concrete measure, student dormitories – both charitable dormitories and dormitories for academics as well as commercial dormitories – are intended to be regulated by the StudHG.

In addition to unified minimum protection standards, the amendment is also intended to increase flexibility in contracts and set limits for deposits. It should be possible to enter and exit during the year.

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