Development charges may not be levied indefinitely. This was decided by the Federal Constitutional Court. In this case, a property owner who owns several properties in Rhineland-Palatinate had filed a lawsuit. The road bordering his properties had been developed in 1985/1986 and opened to public traffic as a municipal road in 2007. However, the property owner did not receive a final decision on the development charges until 2011.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, development charges could previously be levied without a time limit in accordance with the Local Rates Act. 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 expect charges". However, the judges also did not set a specific time frame for the collection of development charges.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate must now adopt a constitutional regulation by July 31, 2022. Until then, the current decision may bring advantages for property owners in Rhineland-Palatinate whose development charge notices are not yet final. A development charge is a municipal levy that is charged to property owners when, for example, a new road is built. In this case, according to several reports, this involved a sum of over 70,000 euros.
Source: BVerfG (decision of November 3, 2021)/hausundgrund-verband.de
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