Residential Property Law

The residential property law describes the specially designed form of ownership in a single apartment within a building with several apartments.

The legal point of departure: the Civil Code doesn’t differentiate with regard to the question of ownership between the land and the buildings found on it.

However in order to cope with the demand for housing steadily increasing since the 19th Century and to create the possibility of acquiring individual apartments and not the whole property, the residential property law (WEG) was passed.

As a result, fractions of the land on which the building is standing can be acquired as property share as well as full ownership (individually-held property) of the respective homes.

Often, the individually-held property is linked with special usage rights, such as car parking places or washing and drying rooms. The common area ownership includes the commonly used parts of the building that is, hallway, stairs, and elevator. The important thing is this distinction, because the question of maintenance and the associated costs depends on it.

The owners make up the apartment owners association.

Since you have many different parties living together, certain rules are required which are laid down in the community regulations ( "House Rules"), which in turn, are adopted and amended by the decision of the apartment owners meeting. For large apartment buildings a caretaker is usually appointed who handles the concerns of the community.

The residential property law itself offers through a number of regulations detailed answers to questions of reserve building, maintenance, management of the site, etc.

However, disputes sometimes arise which are carried out emotionally by the parties involved, which lies in the nature of things.

Common examples are children playing in parcs, loud neighbors, the parking of bicycles or prams in the hallway, usage of parking space, installation of satellite dishes, keeping pets and more.

We would be happy to advise you in detail, in order to avoid an escalation and achieve a harmonious coexistence. Also we give guidance for the apartment owners' meeting, help in designing the community regulations, and design and review all other contracts and legal issues regarding residential property.