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Property tax: associations want to sue

The taxpayers' association and the property owners' association Haus und Grund want to take legal action against property tax in five federal states. This is according to various media reports. One of the reasons for this is a study commissioned by the two associations. In this study, it becomes clear that the constitutional lawyer Gregor Kirchhoff considers the tax system applied in numerous...

Ruling: Approval required

A tenant may not rent an apartment in order to sublet it to a third party. This also applies if the letting is only for a short period of time. This was recently decided by the Local Court of Frankfurt am Main (AZ: 940 OWi 862 Js 45753/22). In this case, the defendant rented a three-room apartment in Frankfurt am Main and sublet it. He offered the three-room apartment to...

Judgment: Mandatory portion penalty clause does not always apply

For a compulsory portion penalty clause in a so-called Berlin will to be valid, third parties must actually inherit something. If this is not the case, they do not face any penalties. This has now been decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Frankfurt am Main (decision of 21.2.2023, 21 W 104/22). In this case, the spouses appointed each other as sole heirs. The man had inherited from his previous marriage...

Equities: New sentiment indicator published

The Hamburg-based agency for financial and corporate communications Kirchhoff Consult AG recently published the "Real Estate Stock Sentiment Indicator 2023". The sentiment indicator shows that analysts' basic sentiment remains at a low level of 3.8 points (H1 2023). Previously (H2 2022), analysts' basic sentiment was still at 4.5 points, with the possible scale...

Ruling: Resolution required for pool construction in community of owners

Condominium owners are not allowed to make structural changes without further ado if the other condominium owners have not been informed or do not agree to them. Due to the so-called "obligation to pass a resolution", they must, if necessary, bring about an authorization resolution by way of an action to replace the resolution. This is the result of a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH)...

Verdict: Container parks must be cleared

In Berlin, land may not be used as a so-called container park where tenants live in caravans, for example. This has now been decided by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 13 L 325/22 and others). In one of the cases in question, an operator had set up and rented out containers on a 4,000 square meter plot of land in Treptow-Köpenick without permission. The rental costs...

Verdict: Orchard meadow must make way for a school

A meadow orchard in Berlin-Johannisthal/Adlershof must make way for a school building. This was decided by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 24 L 36/23). In this case, a community school is to be built on an approximately 3.5-hectare plot of land that is currently home to a meadow orchard. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, meadow orchards are protected biotopes that cannot be...

Ruling: Long-term students can lose their entitlement to housing benefit

Students can lose their entitlement to housing benefit if they take longer than necessary to complete their studies. This has now been decided by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 21 K 144/22). In this case, a student who applied for housing benefit was in her 14th semester of her second degree and in her 20th semester at university. The application for housing benefit was rejected by the housing benefit authority of the district...

Verdict: Adlon heirs receive no compensation for the time being

The community of heirs of Hedwig Adlon will not receive any compensation for her hotel expropriation in November 1949 for the time being, according to a ruling by the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 29 K 131/20). Hedwig Adlon was expropriated at the time as a result of the "Law on the Confiscation of Assets of War Criminals and Nazi Activists". According to the Berlin Administrative Court, she was accused, among other things, of...

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