Owner subsidy: housing benefit for owner-occupied property
As of: August 2026
An owner subsidy (Lastenzuschuss) is housing benefit (Wohngeld) for households that occupy their own property and bear the housing burden. The housing-benefit burden takes the place of rent – in particular debt service, running costs and certain standing charges – up to the maximum for Mietenstufe VI. Income, assets and household size follow the same rules as for a rent subsidy. Let or vacant units do not carry an owner subsidy for those areas.
The same formula, different housing costs
An owner subsidy is not a special benefit beside housing benefit, but the second type of benefit. Tenant households take the path of the rent subsidy. Anyone who has an owner-occupied flat or an owner-occupied house in Frankfurt am Main applies for an owner subsidy.
Household size, adjusted income, assets and exclusions are identical. What differs is step 3 of the calculation: instead of gross cold rent the housing burden is used and capped at the same maximum.
Who can apply for an owner subsidy
Owners, holders of a hereditary building right and comparably entitled people who occupy the living space themselves may apply. The Homeowners page places typical situations.
- an owner-occupied flat or an owner-occupied house
- a hereditary building right, insofar as the living space is occupied by you
- co-ownership, insofar as the share of owner-occupied floor area and the share of the burden can be delimited
What counts as a housing burden
The housing-benefit burden is not identical with every transfer to the bank. Typically the following go in:
- interest and repayment on loans that serve purchase, construction or modernisation
- running costs, insofar as the Act recognises them, including property tax
- Hausgeld shares that do not fall on maintenance reserves or items that cannot be recognised, insofar as they can be allocated
- ground rent in the case of a hereditary building right
What stays outside and how capping works
Consumption-dependent heating and electricity costs of the owner-occupied flat do not belong in the burden like a cold rent. For that – as with a rent subsidy – heating-cost and climate components are added to the maximum in Annex 1. See Heating costs.
The caps for level VI are the same as for rent: 615 euros for one person, then the further steps up to 1,183 euros for five people and 149 euros for each further member. Table: Maximum amounts. Excess burden falls away.
Owner-occupied property and assets
The property you live in is regularly not treated in the assets check like a saleable portfolio. Additional plots or flats that you do not occupy yourself can, by contrast, block the claim as realisable assets.
A high remaining debt does not automatically lower income; it enters through the recognised burden in step 3. Conversely, a paid-off house without a relevant burden often only produces a small countable amount – then income mainly decides the amount.
Documents that go beyond the rent case
In addition to identity and income the authority expects evidence of the legal position and the burden:
- a land-register extract or comparable proof of ownership or of a hereditary building right
- purchase contract, inheritance or transfer evidence
- floor-area calculation, and for condominiums if applicable the declaration of division
- loan agreements and current annual account statements of the lenders
- property-tax notice and, for condominiums, the Hausgeld statement
How to apply in Frankfurt am Main
The Housing Office (Amt für Wohnungswesen), Adickesallee 67–69, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, is responsible. The full list, which also covers the rent case, is under Documents. A first application opens first access, a renewal the continuation.
Exclusions for Bürgergeld with housing costs taken over and for BAföG in principle apply to owner-occupied property as well. The general eligibility rules remain to be checked first.
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