Property tax reform: homeowners in Schleswig-Holstein on alert!

From January 1, 2025, a new property tax calculation will come into force in Germany. This change arouses worries among home owners and tenants, since the association Haus und Grund Schleswig-Holstein expects increased costs for some of them. The state chairman Alexander Blažek expressed concerns about the fairness of the new calculation and described the planned land guidelines as unconstitutional.

House and apartment owners who have not yet received a property tax notice is recommended that they do not make any payments, as well as to cancel direct debit permits and permanent orders. For owners who have already received a new property tax notice, however, the obligation to pay applies, even if an objection has been filed. Andreas Breitner, director of the Association of Northern German Housing Company (VNW), criticized the federal model as anti -social, as it could lead to excessive property taxes in demand.

background for property tax reform

The recalculation affects almost 36 million properties nationwide. The previous values were based on old -fashioned data that declined to 1935 in East Germany and in West Germany. Schleswig-Holstein will apply the new federal model, whereby the property tax revenue of the municipalities remains unaffected by this reform. However, it can be expected that there can be additional or less pollution for the owners.

A decision by the Federal Constitutional Court of April 10, 2018 found that the existing regulations for the unit assessment of property tax are unconstitutional. The legislator had to make a new regulation by December 31, 2019, but the continued to continue the unconstitutional standards remains until the new regulation until December 31, 2024. The court emphasized that the evaluation rules have to enable realistic reviews, which was not given in the past, since the periodical determination of the uniform assessment has been suspended since 1964.