Municipal pre-emption rights: An effective instrument for building land mobilization?

Will municipal pre-emption rights be exercised more frequently in the future?

“The housing question is the social question of our time”, emphasized former Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. To address the existing housing shortage, municipal pre-emption rights moved further into focus, as their exercise is intended to serve increasingly as an instrument for combating the scarcity of housing and land.

Goal: Strategic land policy by municipalities

Expansions and facilitations for municipal pre-emption rights are intended to support a targeted strategic land policy by municipalities for residential construction. In the past, municipalities have already been exercising pre-emption rights with increasing frequency.
In Hamburg, for example, a total of 110 pre-emption rights were exercised in 2020, representing an increase of 35%. Whether and to what extent municipal pre-emption rights pursuant to §§ 24 ff. BauGB constitute an effective instrument for building land mobilization and housing creation has been critically examined by Attorney at Law Carlotta Zimmermann with regard to the amendments and expansions most recently introduced by the Building Land Mobilization Act in an article in the German Administrative Gazette (DVBl 2023, 443).

Critical assessment of the new provisions

In conclusion, it is to be expected that the statutory expansions of the pre-emption right provisions will likely lead to considerable uncertainties and difficulties in application. Whether this has actually created added value for the mobilization of residential building land is questionable in any case.
The complete article by our Attorney at Law Carlotta Zimmermann can be found in the German Administrative Gazette, issue 8, 2023, p. 443 ff.
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