Wallgau is etching under the load on second homes.
The municipal council now wants to correct this undesirable development.
Wallgau
- The picturesque Wallgau is not only a popular spot for holidaymakers.
More and more well-heeled people are buying a secondary home in the 1500-strong village.
Housing for local families, on the other hand, is becoming more and more expensive and illusory.
A mistake that the long-time music teacher Klaus-Bernd Heer has been pointing out with vehemence for years, not only in his hometown, but in the entire Upper Isar Valley.
The Wallgau municipal council unanimously launched a statute on Thursday that massively restricts the scope for second homes and, in the best case scenario, is intended to prevent them.
There are currently around 120 second homes in Wallgau.
That is 20 percent of the local housing market.
A complete mistake - so the general tenor in the town hall.
"We have to take countermeasures", clarified Mayor Bastian Eiter (electoral association).
In this context, he quotes an expert opinion from 1998. Even then, experts came to the conclusion that, among other things, second homes are one of the reasons for the exorbitant property prices in Wallgau.
In other words: This real estate problem was not just known for yesterday.
We have to do something about that, we don't need to have any scruples either, that's in Wallgau's interest!
Councilor Wolfgang Behling
So now the parliament has passed a set of rules comprising seven paragraphs, which should come into force on January 1, 2022. Central message: In the future, secondary apartments will require approval “if the rooms are unoccupied for more than half of the days of the year”. So it says in the justification of the statute, which refers to paragraph 22 of the building code. This means that municipalities that are predominantly shaped by tourism are allowed to use this purpose.
And the local council is absolutely determined to do so, as the brief discussion about it made clear. 120 second homes are simply too many for a small village, emphasized Wolfgang Behling (electoral association). “We have to do something, we don't need to have any scruples, that's in Wallgau's interest!” His parliamentary colleague Karlheinz Schwaiger sees it the same way. “Locals find it increasingly difficult to find apartments.” The “Wegmacher” sees the latest decision as a clear signal that “we are not building for non-residents”.
Coffee house operator Florian Holzer (CSU) describes himself as a beneficiary of this undesirable development - because if there are second home owners there, they also like to consume on site - but the “Café-Martl” urges you to act quickly.
When he walks through the village from 5 p.m. all he sees is vacancies, lowered blinds and dark houses everywhere.
“That is absurd, it cannot go on like this.” Therefore, he considers the “Statute for Securing the Purpose of Areas with a Tourism Function”, as it goes in all its glory, to be “very important”.
However, Mayor Eiter restricts: “We won't have all of the second homes gone at once.” After all, the existing ones enjoy grandfathering.
"But at least it's a sign."
