What Klara Geywitz is planning for the municipal right of first refusal

Berlin Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) wants to regulate the municipal right of first refusal. The draft law is available to the Handelsblatt. The aim is to give municipalities and cities a right of first refusal.

For example, land speculation, the conversion of rental apartments into condominiums, rising rents through luxury renovations and the subsequent displacement of the resident population are to be prevented. The municipalities can therefore take over land before investors get their chance.

The right of first refusal should apply in milieu protection areas, i.e. in areas for which the municipalities have issued a “conservation statute”. This is particularly the case in large cities with tight housing markets.

The draft states that the law strengthens “the municipalities’ scope for action” and preserves their options “for access to a large area”. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported about it first.

mix of intervention options

Such a municipal right of first refusal already existed in the past. Due to the case law of the Federal Administrative Court, however, an amendment had to be made if the municipalities were to remain able to intervene.