Urban redevelopment measure; application for approval

To ensure that the urban development objectives for the designated redevelopment area to remedy or mitigate urban development deficiencies can be achieved quickly by the municipality, property owners in the redevelopment area must apply for approval for certain projects and legal transactions.

Without the written approval of the municipality, all legal transactions are null and void and the construction measures are unlawful.

Approval may only be refused if there is reason to assume that the project, the legal transaction, the division of the property or the intended use would make the implementation of the redevelopment impossible or significantly more difficult or would run counter to the objectives and purposes of the redevelopment.

A building in a formally defined redevelopment area is to be renovated.

Activities requiring authorization:

• Construction, modification or change of use of a building that requires a building inspection permit or that must be reported to the building supervisory authority
• Significant or substantially value-enhancing changes to land and buildings whose changes do not require planning permission, approval or notification
• Removal of structures (demolition)
• Agreements by which a contractual relationship under the law of obligations regarding the use or utilization of a property, building or part of a building is entered into or extended for a fixed period of more than one year, e.g. rental or lease agreements
• Legal sale of a property
• Creation and sale of a heritable building right
• Creation of a right encumbering the property, e.g. easements, rights of first refusal in rem, usufructuary rights, permanent residential or usage rights in accordance with the Residential Property Act, mortgages, land charges
• Establishment, amendment or revocation of a building charge
• Division of a property that leads to a change in property boundaries

If the permit is granted by the municipality, a decision on the permit must be made within one month of receipt of the complete application, with the possibility of extending the approval period by a maximum of three months.

If the permit is granted by the building permit authority in agreement with the municipality - in cases where a building permit or, in its place, a building permit is also required - a decision must be made within two months of receipt of the application by the building permit authority. In this case, the approval period can be extended by a maximum of two months.

The processing period in both cases is therefore a maximum of four months in total.

Upon receipt of any additional documents requested, the application shall be deemed to have been resubmitted and the respective period shall only begin to run from this point in time.

If the examination of the application cannot be completed within this time, the deadline must be extended by the time necessary to complete the examination before it expires. The above-mentioned maximum extension periods must be observed. Approval is deemed to have been granted if it has not been refused within the time limit.

• § Section 144 of the German Building Code (BauGB)
• § Section 145 of the German Building Code (BauGB)

The application for approval must be submitted in writing. All documents required for the assessment of the project or legal transaction must be enclosed. The documents to be submitted depend on the type and scope of the project or legal transaction to be approved and can be obtained from the municipality in case of doubt. In the case of legal transactions, the notarial deed or the relevant contract must be submitted.

The redevelopment permit does not replace the building permit for projects requiring a building permit, but is added to the building permit as a special separate redevelopment permit. The redevelopment permit is one of the public law regulations that may not conflict with a project. No building permit may be issued before a redevelopment permit has been granted.