The holding of a homeowners’ meeting (“WEG meeting”) can soon take place completely virtually. This possibility is provided for in a draft law by the Federal Ministry of Justice to reform the Condominium Ownership Act (WEG).
1. Initial situation
Holding a purely online WEG meeting is currently not permitted by law. Only hybrid meetings, in which apartment owners can participate online, are permitted by law. This only happens if the apartment owners have previously made a corresponding agreement or passed a majority resolution (Section 23 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 WEG). However, WEG meetings currently still have to take place physically at a specific meeting location.
2. Requirements for the virtual WEG meeting according to Section 23 Paragraph 11100000-0000-0000-0000-000000000111_2a WEG-RefE
A purely virtual WEG meeting could be made possible through the introduction of the new Section 23 Paragraph 2a WEG-RefE. The new paragraph 2a of Section 23 WEG is intended to create new majority decision-making authority for apartment owners. According to the draft law, the following requirements exist for a permissible virtual WEG meeting:
2.1 ¾ majority decision
In a previous in-person meeting, at least ¾ of the participating owners must vote that future meetings can take place online or only take place online.
2.2 3-year limit
The owners may only decide on the possibility or the future exclusively virtual form of meeting for a maximum period of 3 years from the adoption of the resolution. After the three years have expired, a new decision would have to be made.
2.3 Technical requirements
The virtual meeting must be comparable to face-to-face meetings in terms of participation and exercise of rights. It must therefore take place as a video conference in real time and with two-way audio. Meetings in a chat or telephone conferences are not possible.
3. Conclusion
It is not yet known when the change in the law will come into force. The draft law was published by the Federal Ministry of Justice on May 31, 2023. Interested parties have until July 7th, 2023 to comment.
You can download the draft law < strong>here access.
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