Under certain circumstances, a local authority can demand the retransfer of a property assigned to an association. This so-called reversion can occur if the association does not fulfill its contractual obligations. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (V ZR 191/22). In the case in question, the local authority had allowed an association to build a mosque and a cultural center on a plot of land within four years under a leasehold contract. However, the association did not succeed in doing so.
In such a case, the local authority reserved the right to repurchase and asserted this right. The case ended up in court. The local authority was upheld by the regional court (17 O 1045/18), the higher regional court (10 U 278/21) and the Federal Court of Justice. According to the BGH, the association had breached contractual construction obligations by not completing the first construction phase within four years.
The development obligation agreed between the municipality and the association was also not unreasonable. After all, the municipality had an interest in making the property accessible to the public. The reason for the BGH's decision is probably also that the association had "culpably disregarded" it.
Sources and further information: bundesgerichtshof.de/rsw.beck.de/drklein.de
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