Special and common property

Each owner is responsible for the special property, including maintenance and repairs. Common property, on the other hand, refers to all areas and parts of the building in the WEG that must be used and managed jointly by all owners.

The distinction between special and common property is particularly important when it comes to the distribution of costs. While in the case of separate property each owner has to bear the costs themselves and alone, according to Section 16 Paragraph 2 WEG, the costs of common property are passed on to all owners.

Roughly speaking, special property includes those parts of the building or property that are reserved for use only by individual apartment owners, without a special right of use being granted for this.

Condominium ownership is special property that is used for residential purposes, i.e. a condominium located in an apartment building. Partial ownership, on the other hand, includes separate ownership of premises that serve any other purpose, in particular commercial use.

You should not confuse special ownership and special right of use. The special property belongs solely to you. With the special right of use you secure the opportunity to use part of the common property alone. This must be noted in the declaration of division.

In any case, the entire load-bearing parts of the building, the stairwell, roof and windows, as well as all systems and facilities that serve the common use of the apartment owners do not belong to the special property (see §5 WEG para. 2).

The garden or terrace belongs to the common property and is not suitable for separate ownership. An owner can register a special right of use for a garden or terrace. When it comes to terraces, a distinction must also be made as to whether the terrace is at ground level (on the ground floor) or a roof terrace.

The allocation of ownership of the balcony seems somewhat incomprehensible to many people at first glance: The balcony is (mostly) part of the shared property, although it can only be accessed via the corresponding apartment, which is part of the separate property. However, parts of the balcony may be subject to special ownership.

According to § 14, the owner must cover the costs of any damage to all parts of the building that are owned separately.

Since the Condominium Ownership Act was renewed on December 1st, 2020, owners have had the option of declaring vacant areas as special property.

Owner is responsible for handling and costs for special property. Special property: condominium, basement and storage rooms and all parts of the building that are not part of the common property.

Windows are part of the community property

As described above, the special right of use gives an individual owner the authority to use parts of the common property alone. This legal claim must be distinguished from so-called special property. Here, a buyer receives a legal claim to an area that belongs to him.

In principle, the parking space with special ownership belongs to you alone, while the parking space with special usage rights is joint property, even if only you are allowed to use it. Theoretically, the costs for shared property are to be borne by the entire homeowners' association.

Parking spaces are always part of the common property, while the interior spaces are part of the separate property (if this is specified in the declaration of division). The 2020 WEG reform also established the special ownership of parking spaces in Section 3 Paragraph 1 S. WEG.

A property community specifically refers to the shared ownership of a piece of property. An owners' association or homeowners' association (WEG), on the other hand, refers to the common ownership of a building or residential complex, including the property.

Any partial ownership, consisting of separate property and co-ownership of the common property, is generally considered to be one piece of property. A property tax return must therefore be submitted for each partial ownership. Partial ownership is valued using the material value method.

SPECIAL PROPERTY MAY NOT BE RESTRICTED WITHOUT REASON

Within his special property, within his own four walls, the apartment owner is basically allowed to do whatever he wants. This basically applies not only to the design of your special property, but also to the type of use.

The conversion of common property into separate property is only possible if all apartment owners agree and a corresponding entry is made in the land register. A mere agreement is therefore not sufficient.

According to DIN 277, landings and stairs are part of the traffic area, regardless of the number of gradients. They are fully included in the net floor area. The base areas of stairs and their landings with more than three rises are not taken into account when determining the base area.

The entire door is jointly owned as a single item. Regardless of whether apartment entrance doors are located inside the building or on the outside, they are necessarily assigned to common property in accordance with Section 5 Paragraph 1 WEG.

The house hallway or hallway for short usually corresponds structurally to a corridor, but this term more precisely describes the space between the entrance door and the internal staircase or other rooms in residential buildings. The term hallway is also used for entrance halls (foyers).

Windows, apartment doors, roller shutters, roller shutter straps – what counts as shared property? If there is no different agreement between the apartment owners, the following generally applies: “Windows, apartment doors, roller shutters and therefore also the roller shutter belts are generally jointly owned.

According to the definition of the law in Section 3 Paragraph 1 WEG, no special ownership can be established in a carport; it does not have spatial properties.

The carport therefore falls under common property, for which a special right of use is granted. The same also applies to parking spaces in the underground car park belonging to the condominium association.

However, double parkers themselves can be separate property. The lifting platform and its hydraulics, on the other hand, are generally jointly owned as structural building components if they serve several garage units.

The swing and sandpit change the external appearance of the shared property. The construction of such play equipment in open spaces is not part of the normal use of such areas, so a structural change cannot be denied for this reason either.

However, the situation is different when it comes to the costs of normal garden maintenance and the garden is in the special ownership of an owner or a special right of use has been granted. The respective special owner or special authorized user must then be responsible for these costs.

Since the garden itself is and remains community property according to the current legal situation, even if there are special owners, the community must generally decide on maintenance and installation measures, have them carried out (or have them carried out) and also pay for the costs.

Revaluation of properties after property tax reform: This is how the property tax return works. Even in the case of unmarried couples or communities of heirs, one person submits the property tax return and registers the others as co-owners along with their respective share of the property.

If damage to the separate property leads to damage to the common property, the party holding the separate property is responsible. The obligation to pay compensation follows from Section 14 No. 1 WEG in conjunction with Sections 280 ff. BGB.

What is special property? Special property means the sole ownership of the apartment owner or the owner of the non-residential and self-contained rooms.

In principle, the owners' association is responsible. However, the apartment owners can make an agreement that deviates from this. However, this agreement must be unambiguous and unambiguous.

For the most part, windows are part of the community property; only the interior elements are the separate property of the relevant WEG member. For owners in a WEG or prospective buyers, it is important to know exactly what belongs to the special property and what belongs to the common property of your WEG.

The BGH gives the owner the right. The homeowners' association must replace the roof window at its own expense. In accordance with Section 5 Paragraph 2 of the Condominium Ownership Act, windows and their frames must be jointly owned.

Apart from the flooring, the balcony of a condominium is shared property. This means that it belongs to the property owner and not just the property owner. This is anchored in the community order.

The balcony room, on the other hand, is the property of the apartment owner. This also includes sockets, tiles, interior paint and flower pots.

Each owner is responsible for the special property, including maintenance and repairs. Common property, on the other hand, refers to all areas and parts of the building in the WEG that must be used and managed jointly by all owners.