German WEG glossary: the words of the Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (condominium act)
Terms that a Verwalter (appointed manager), owners and Beirat (advisory board) members run into constantly, explained briefly. Where an entry restates a rule, the statute section is given; where a term is pure market usage and the statute never uses it, this says so plainly instead of inventing a source. No entry gives the full applicable rule.
- Beschlussfähigkeit (the owners' assembly's capacity to resolve)
- § 25 WEG sets no minimum turnout for the owners' assembly. A resolution is carried by the majority of the votes cast, counted by head — one vote per owner, not per flat and not by co-ownership share. Whether a quorum clause in a Teilungserklärung (declaration of division) still has effect is a question of interpretation this entry leaves open.
- Beschluss-Sammlung
- The Beschluss-Sammlung holds only the wording of resolutions announced at the assembly and in writing, plus the operative part of court judgments, entered consecutively and dated. It is kept by the Verwalter, or by the assembly's chair if there is none. The statute sets no required form, and it sets no handover procedure when the Verwalter changes either.
- Sonderumlage
- What practice calls a Sonderumlage is a resolution of the owners on a contribution outside the running Wirtschaftsplan, resting on the same resolution requirement as the ordinary advances. The WEG contains no route for demanding money from owners without a resolution.
- Jahresabrechnung (often called Hausgeldabrechnung)
- The WEG never uses the word Hausgeld (owners' advance contribution); the statute's own name for the document is Jahresabrechnung, produced by the Verwalter (appointed manager) after each calendar year. What the owners actually resolve on is the further contributions or the adjustment of the advances, not the document itself. The statute sets no deadline for producing it.
- Umlaufbeschluss (circular resolution)
- The WEG doesn't use the word Umlaufbeschluss; it speaks of a resolution valid „auch ohne Versammlung“ (even without an assembly) once every owner consents in Textform. Only for a single matter can the owners resolve in advance that a plain majority of the votes cast suffices. Austria runs the opposite way: the written route is a standard, equally-ranked path alongside the assembly, carried by a majority of co-ownership shares.
- Erhaltungsrücklage
- Accumulating an appropriate Erhaltungsrücklage is part of proper administration. The WEG sets no figure, formula or percentage anywhere — only the word „appropriate“. The owners resolve the contributions, and the Verwalter (appointed manager) must disclose the reserve's level to every owner each year in a Vermögensbericht (asset report).
- Wirtschaftsplan
- The Verwalter draws up the Wirtschaftsplan for each calendar year, showing expected income and expenditure. Owners don't resolve on the plan itself but on the advances it sets out — the difference only becomes visible at the Jahresabrechnung (annual statement), which accounts for those same figures for real.
- Teilungserklärung
- The WEG never uses the word Teilungserklärung. It means the declaration to the land registry by which an owner splits a property into co-ownership shares, each combined with Sondereigentum. Terms departing from the statute bind a later buyer only if entered in the land register as content of the Sondereigentum.
- Gemeinschaftsordnung
- What practice calls the Gemeinschaftsordnung is the owners' agreements departing from the WEG's own rules, usually set out in the same document as the Teilungserklärung (declaration of division). Such agreements bind a later buyer only if entered in the land register; an ordinary resolution binds them even without an entry.
- Sondereigentum and Gemeinschaftseigentum
- Gemeinschaftseigentum is defined residually as everything that is not Sondereigentum or a third party's property. Sondereigentum covers the rooms and the components belonging to them that can be changed without impairing the common property or other owners' rights beyond what orderly coexistence unavoidably entails, and without altering the building's external appearance — components necessary for the building's existence or safety stay common property even inside an owner's own rooms. The statute lists no components and sets no calculation method for the co-ownership share. Parking spaces count as rooms for this purpose.
- Verwaltungsbeirat
- Members of the Verwaltungsbeirat are owners appointed by resolution; the WEG sets no number of members. The council supports and supervises the Verwalter, and the Wirtschaftsplan (annual budget) and Jahresabrechnung (annual statement) should be reviewed by it before the owners resolve on them. Members acting without pay are liable only for intent and gross negligence.
- Beschlussanfechtung
- A resolution is challenged with the Anfechtungsklage, which must be filed within one month of the resolution and substantiated within two months of it. The claim goes against the community of owners, not against individual owners, and the judgment binds everyone — party or not. Only the court where the property is located has jurisdiction; the statute does not name which level of court that is.
- Unterjährige Verbrauchsinformation (UVI)
- Where remote-readable metering is installed, the building owner must give users monthly heating and hot-water consumption information, since 1 January 2022. Non-remote-readable meters installed up to 1 December 2021 must be retrofitted or replaced by 31 December 2026, unless that is technically impossible in the individual case or would cause undue hardship. The 15% and 3% reduction rights from the Heizkostenverordnung expressly do not apply between an individual owner and the community.
- Vermögensbericht
- After each calendar year the Verwalter must produce a Vermögensbericht showing the level of the reserves and a statement of the community's material assets, and make it available to every owner — a separate document from the Jahresabrechnung (annual statement), with which it is often confused.
- Six words the WEG doesn't use
- A full-text check of the WEG shows that Teilungserklärung, Gemeinschaftsordnung, Sonderumlage, Beschlussfähigkeit, Hausgeld and Abrechnungsspitze appear zero times in the statute. Four of them have a counterpart in the statute under a different name: Teilungserklärung is the division under § 8 WEG, Gemeinschaftsordnung is the agreements under § 10 WEG, Hausgeld is the advances under § 28 Absatz 1 WEG, and Sonderumlage is a resolution on advances or further contributions outside the running Wirtschaftsplan (annual budget) under § 28 Absatz 1 und 2 WEG. Abrechnungsspitze is the practice word for the balance the owners resolve on under § 28 Absatz 2 WEG. With Beschlussfähigkeit it is not only the word that is missing but the rule: the WEG sets no quorum.
