Berlin has achieved a stage victory in its efforts to create new rules for exercising pre-emption rights for residential buildings. As the Senate Chancellery announced on Friday, the Bundesrat approved a motion for a resolution submitted by Berlin and Hamburg.
The federal government is asked to create a legally secure regulation so that municipalities can exercise the right of first refusal to protect the resident population. In Berlin, this was practiced for years in so-called milieu protection areas to preserve the social mix there. In November 2021, however, the Federal Administrative Court partially overturned this practice.
The reason given at the time was: Such a right of first refusal should not be exercised on the basis of the assumption that the other buyer could presumably oust the tenants from the area in the future (file no.: BVerwG 4 C 1.20). The court thus agreed with a suing real estate company.
When exercising a right of first refusal, Berlin relied on the nationwide Building Code. Since the verdict, the red-green-red Senate has been asking the federal government to redesign this legal basis so that practice is possible again. This was also the aim of the Federal Council initiative.
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Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) now said: “I am pleased that the Bundesrat has followed our initiative. The question of the right of first refusal is important throughout Germany because it is an important tool for effectively protecting tenants from excessive rents.”
It also strengthens social cohesion, especially in inner-city areas. “In this way we could also prevent speculative real estate transactions, the costs of which are often paid by the tenants.”
