Development fees may not be levied for an unlimited period of time. This was decided by the Federal Constitutional Court. In the case in question, a landowner who owns several plots of land in Rhineland-Palatinate had filed a lawsuit. The road bordering his properties had, among other things, been developed in 1985/1986 and made accessible to public traffic as a municipal road in 2007. However, the landowner did not receive a final notice of the development fees until 2011.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the Municipal Charges Act previously allowed development charges to be levied without any time limit. Wrongly, according to the Federal Constitutional Court. This is because "the requirement of clarity and predictability of the burden demands that those affected are not left permanently in the dark as to whether they still have to reckon with burdens". However, the judges also did not set a specific time frame for the collection of development fees.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate must now adopt a constitutional provision by July 31, 2022. Until then, the current decision may bring benefits for property owners in Rhineland-Palatinate whose development fee notices are not yet final. A development fee is a municipal charge that is levied on property owners when, for example, a new road is built. In this case, according to several reports, the amount involved was over 70,000 euros.
Source: BVerfG (decision of November 3, 2021)/hausundgrund-verband.de
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