General information

The approval requirement under Section 250 of the German Building Code (BauGB) applies to existing buildings with more than five apartments and is intended to help protect tenants from displacement and curb speculation with housing.

According to Section 250 BauGB, approval can only be granted under certain conditions.

The approval requirement for more than 5 apartments in existing residential buildings was introduced to protect tenants in areas with tight housing markets from the speculative conversion of rental apartments into condominiums and the displacement of tenants from their apartments by selling them to third parties and the associated de-renting and luxury modernization.

In practice, this means that the land registry office may only enter the creation or division of condominiums or partial ownership in the land register for existing residential buildings if it has proof of approval or the absence of an approval requirement.

"In the defined municipal areas, which according to Section 2 AngWoMBestV ND also include the entire urban area of the city of Wolfsburg, the creation or division of residential property or partial ownership and thus the conversion of partial ownership or rental apartments into condominiums requires approval for residential buildings that already existed on the day the ordinance came into force (September 24, 2022) (Section 250 (1) sentence 1 BauGB)."