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Protest banners on Berlin apartment buildings: Right of first refusal not based on acceptance
Photo: Felipe Trueba / EPA-EFE / REX
The Federal Administrative Court has partially overturned the usual pre-emptive right practice in Berlin for land protection reasons. Such a right of first refusal should not be exercised on the basis of the assumption that the other buyer could presumably displace the tenants from the area in the future, the court ruled on Tuesday in Leipzig (Ref .: BVerwG 4 C 1.20). It thus overturned the ruling of the Berlin Higher Administrative Court in 2019 and gave a plaintiff real estate company right.
The right of first refusal is excluded if the property is built on and used in accordance with the objectives or purposes of the urban development measures and a building erected on it has no defects, the reason said. These conditions would be met in the case. The Federal Administrative Court did not follow the assessment of the lower court, according to which expected uses should also be taken into account.
The plaintiff real estate company had acquired a property with 20 rental apartments and two commercial units in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Since the property was located in a milieu protection area, the district exercised the right of first refusal in favor of the state-owned housing association.
The aim was to counter the risk that part of the resident population could be displaced by rent increases or conversions into condominiums.
The company sued against it.
mik / dpa
