We had already pointed out in the past that the Condominium Act (WEG) is to be revised and changed. The reform law was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette on 16 October 2020 and will come into force on 1 December 2020. In the first part of our series on this reform law, we pointed out the possibilities of holding owners' meetings online in the future.
In this article we deal with the structural changes to the common property or the permission of structural changes (§ 20 WEG-Neu) as well as the benefits and costs of structural changes (§ 21 WEG-Neu).
Structural changes may be decided upon or permitted to a condominium owner by resolution. Structural changes are measures that go beyond the proper maintenance of the common property (section 20 (1) WEG-Neu). Each condominium owner himself/herself may demand reasonable structural alterations which serve, firstly, the use by persons with disabilities, secondly, the charging of electrically powered vehicles, thirdly, burglary protection and fourthly, the connection to the telecommunications network with very high capacity (section 20 (2) sentence 1 WEG-Neu). Independently of this, each condominium owner may demand that he or she be permitted to make a structural alteration if all condominium owners whose rights are affected by the structural alteration beyond what is unavoidable in an orderly coexistence agree (section 20 (3) WEG-Neu). With these regulations, the individual condominium owners are granted new rights, which, however, are not unlimited. This is because structural changes that fundamentally redesign the condominium or unfairly disadvantage one condominium owner over others without his or her consent may not be decided or permitted, nor may they be demanded (section 20 (4) WEG-neu).
As far as the costs are concerned, those owners who have agreed to the measure must bear the costs. The costs are borne according to co-ownership shares if the measure was approved by more than two-thirds of the votes cast and by more than half of the co-ownership shares; this does not apply, however, if the structural alteration is associated with disproportionate costs (section 21 (2) no. 1 WEG-Neu). If the costs of a measure are amortised within a reasonable period of time, then a distribution of the costs among all owners may be provided for (section 21 (2) no. 2 WEG-Neu). What constitutes a reasonable period of time is not defined by law. From the explanatory memorandum to the Act, however, it can be assumed that a period of ten years could be appropriate as a rule. Finally, a condominium owner who is not entitled to benefit may demand that he or she be reimbursed for this at equitable discretion in return for appropriate compensation (section 21 (4) WEG-Neu).
The legislator has included these new regulations in the law in order to offer greater flexibility with regard to changes in existing WEGs (such as electric charging stations, built-in protection, the latest telecommunications networks). Thus, flat owners - if they bear the costs - can also demand structural changes without the consent of the other members and will not be permanently blocked by an (inflexible) majority of the other WEG members, which has happened more often in the past.
These changes by the legislator are to be welcomed. Whether and to what extent they will lead to a significant facilitation in practice remains to be seen. We will report further on this as well.
Author Dr. Dieter Jasper
Düsseldorf the 11 November 2020
