If a few mostly uninhabited oligarch villas should become vacant on Tegernsee in the near future, then this will probably not be due to the municipal second home tax. The municipalities in the Tegernsee valley have been demanding comparatively proud sentences for several years. A second-home tax of 20 percent of the basic rent that could be charged for such a property is a lot of money, but probably carries less weight for the respective owners.
However, the focus of the communities has so far been less on the villas and more on such second homes, which could also serve well as permanent primary residences for young families or for the many people who are increasingly sought after, who cook the food in the local restaurants and or in the hotels Make beds. In addition to the tax, some other municipalities have been trying for a while to practically ban the development of further second homes. Whether this has a really big effect is an open question.
Three years ago, the market town of Berchtesgaden was the first municipality in Bavaria to adopt a statute that makes the conversion of primary residences or vacation rentals that are alternately rented into permanent secondary residences subject to approval – with a clear statement not to grant such permits. This Berchtesgaden model, which uses an exception rule in building law for tourist areas, immediately attracted a certain amount of attention.
A similar statute in neighboring Schönau am Koenigssee came into force a little earlier, and imitators were soon found in Ruhpolding in Chiemgau or in Kreuth on Tegernsee. In Bayrischzell in the district of Miesbach, the municipal councils have already defined districts where no new second homes should be built, because previously almost all the houses sold in the village had gone to wealthy foreigners as second homes.
In most of these places there is still a lack of experience with the instrument, but Berchtesgaden’s mayor Franz Rasp (CSU) is already very satisfied. “Better than expected” is his summary. He had expected, among other things, a wave of lawsuits, which has not happened so far. In his own words, however, he did not expect that the proportion of second homes would actually decrease in view of this “political statement”. “For us it was important that the trend is broken” and at least that no more second homes are created. But brokers reported a number of failed sales to people who did not want to settle down in Berchtesgaden.
At the same time, some who were already there may have simply re-registered their place of residence, but the municipality also benefits from this through income tax and state allocations. Overall, second homes have decreased by a fifth, says Rasp. Even before that, there weren’t entire streets in Berchtesgaden where the shutters stay down for most of the year. Before 2019, it was five to eight percent second homes, depending on whether you counted apartments or people.
In the 3,700-inhabitant community of Kreuth am Tegernsee, the proportion is significantly higher with 450 second homes. Here too, according to Mayor Josef Bierschneider (CSU), the community has already rejected some applications for new second homes – and has already received two lawsuits from property developers. The statute as a whole has been confirmed so far, says Bierschneider, but the definition as a tourist area could not be maintained for a smaller area and new second homes had to be allowed. The second case, which affects a much larger area, has been won so far, but the legal dispute is not quite over yet.
The outcome should also be of interest to Matthias Simon, who heads the building law department at the Bavarian Municipal Council. “Legislators could make it a bit easier for us if they wanted to,” says Simon, meaning both the federal government, which could tighten up the building law, and the free state, from which he would like, among other things, more freedom of decision for the individual municipalities. So far, the Berchtesgaden model can only be used in tourist regions, where, in addition to some university towns, there is also the biggest problem with second homes. This can already be seen in the second home tax, which, according to community day spokesman Wilfried Schober, does not even require a tenth of all 2056 cities and communities in the Free State. Because apart from a certain signal effect, the effort is often greater than the income. “The great majority of the Bavarian municipalities have none of it anyway.”