Second apartments in Ostholstein: Danger for the locals?

Second apartments in Ostholstein: Danger for the locals?

Kellenhusen/Scharbeutz. In the popular coastal locations Ostholstein, it is bubbling! Sticker with the provocative message "No more living space - thanks to your second home" stick on cars in Pelzerhaken. A hamburger finds a note with the inscription "Hamburger out of Eutin" on its windshield. These individual cases are condemned by the majority of the locals, but they reflect an urgent problem: the living space for the local population is disappearing, while the number of second homes explodes!

In Scharbeutz, a hotspot for second apartments, the numbers are alarming! Mayor Bettina Schäfer reports that around 7700 households are classified as second or secondary apartments. That is a terrifying 40 percent! Despite all the efforts to revise the development plans and secure living space for the locals, the definition of second apartments remains an unsolved puzzle. "The federal legislature is required here," says Schäfer. The municipalities can regulate holiday apartments, but the purchase or rent of a second home remains a private matter.

Second apartments bring important tax revenue

Timmendorfer Strand shows a similar picture: with 8400 inhabitants and around 3950 second apartments, the situation is tense. Department Head Dennis Sontopski explains that the municipality is difficult to influence the number of second apartments. "It's not about forbidding them, but regulating them," he emphasizes. The municipality has the responsibility to provide a good infrastructure for everyone without interfering in the heated debates about the advantages and disadvantages of the second apartments.

But the second apartments are not only a problem-they also bring money! In Scharbeutz, five million euros recently flowed into the health insurers of second home tax, only exceeded by trade tax with six million. Timmendorfer Strand recorded 3.2 million euros, while Kellenhusen expects 1.1 million euros. The second apartments are therefore a double -edged sword that both burdened and financially supported!