Leave the apartment empty
Property obliges. If you own an apartment, it is actually up to you to leave the apartment empty. You certainly have good reasons for this. In large cities, however, you have to be prepared for the fact that the housing situation prohibits vacancies. Then you risk a fine.
Everyone can do what they want with their property. It's a little different with real estate. This is where the social bond of property comes into play. If, as the owner of a property, you impair the interests of potential tenants, you may be obliged not to leave your apartment empty for a long period of time.
Leaving the property empty is subject to a fine
- Housing is scarce in many cities. There are hardly any building plots shown. The result is that the demand for living space exceeds the supply. The rents are rising. Socially weaker tenants are left behind. That is why the cities attach great importance to the fact that every available apartment is actually rented out.
- In large cities in particular, there are laws or ordinances that prohibit the misappropriation of living space. A misappropriation exists, among other things, if the apartment has been empty for more than three months leave the apartment standing, use the apartment professionally or commercially, or tear the property down or fall into disrepair permit.
- It goes without saying that these bans apply to speculative vacancies. Cyclical or structural vacancies that you cannot prevent are not meant. However, speculative purposes are socially harmful and at the expense of potential tenants. Apartments should not be misused as objects of speculation.
- Even if you rent out your apartment to changing tourists, there is a misappropriation, which may violate a misappropriation statute.
- In the statutes of the City of Munich on the prohibition of misappropriation of apartments from 02/02/2009 (ZeS), this type of misappropriation is punished with a fine of up to 50,000 euros. The statutes are based on the assumption that the supply of the population with sufficient living space under reasonable conditions in Munich is at risk. The statutes expressly concern privately financed living space. The competent authority is the Social Affairs Department, Office for Housing and Migration.
Property obliges. This also applies in particular to apartment owners who ...
Exception if the apartment cannot be structurally rented
- the Misappropriation statute the LHS Munich also contains exceptions. If the apartment is uninhabitable for structural reasons and you cannot prepare the apartment with an economically justifiable effort, you can leave it empty. It is then not considered as living space.
- However, you are obliged to prepare the apartment if the rental income will offset the costs within ten years (ยง 3 III No. 5 ZeS). The same applies if the apartment cannot be rented due to its floor plan or size.
Even stricter requirements apply to social housing construction
- If you have also built your property with public funding (social housing), you are in Bavaria too Due to the Bavarian Housing Act, you are obliged not to leave your apartment vacant for more than three months permit.
- If there are reasons for this, you need the approval of the authority. The Bavarian Housing Promotion Act contains a similar provision.
There are similar misappropriation statutes (housing protection laws) in Hamburg, Bonn and Cologne.
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