Overview
- Berlin’s Senate approved a draft “Einfach‑Bauen‑Gesetz” for borough consultation, with submission to the state parliament planned in May.
- The Berlin proposal amends the building code, heritage law and related rules to enable cheaper conversions by lowering fire, sound and vibration requirements, permitting lower attic room heights, and simplifying permits.
- Federal Housing Minister Verena Hubertz sent a Baugesetzbuch overhaul into interministerial coordination to cut local plan timelines to about two years and let shortage-hit cities designate housing as an overriding public interest.
- The federal draft would speed environmental review by relying more on strategic assessments instead of full impact studies, raise the fast‑track threshold to 30,000 square meters of sealed area, and streamline citizen participation to a single, digital step.
- Municipalities would gain tools to order repairs of derelict properties and, in extreme abuse cases, pursue expropriation, regain pre‑emptive purchase rights in protected areas and to block extremist or criminal buyers, and receive reporting and potential acquisition rights on share deals, with a cabinet decision targeted by late May.