Beschluss anfechten: challenging a WEG resolution — deadlines, process and costs

The deadlines where almost everything fails

Filing the action

1 month from the vote

Statement of grounds

2 months from the vote

Deadline starts

Day of the meeting, not receipt of the minutes

Defendant

Owners’ association (WEG / GdWE)

Suspensive effect

None

Work out your deadline: The challenge deadline calculator takes the meeting date and returns both deadlines — computed under §§ 187, 188 BGB, moved past weekends and public holidays under § 193 BGB — and can add them to your calendar.

The action is called an Anfechtungsklage. Both deadlines are set out in § 45 WEG and are preclusive. Miss the one-month deadline and the resolution becomes final, even if its content was wrong. Miss the two-month deadline for the grounds and the action is dismissed, even though it was filed in time.

Two finer points: for the one-month deadline it is enough to file with the court, provided the claim is then served "promptly" (§ 167 ZPO) — which means paying the court fee advance without delay. And anyone prevented from meeting the deadline through no fault of their own can apply for reinstatement (§ 45 sentence 2 WEG with §§ 233 ff. ZPO). Don't plan on it.

In practice, the most common mistake is the start date. Many owners wait for the minutes to check exactly what was decided. The minutes (Protokoll) must be prepared without undue delay, but they often arrive only after three or four weeks. By then the deadline has almost run out. If you are seriously considering a challenge, write down the wording at the meeting itself and put the deadline in your calendar the same day.

When a resolution can be challenged

Formal defects concern how the resolution came about: too short a notice period, an agenda item not described specifically enough, a meeting called by someone without authority, an incorrectly declared result, an impermissible restriction on proxies.

A formal defect does not invalidate the resolution, however, if it is clear that the resolution would have been passed in exactly the same way without it. In case of doubt, the defect is presumed to have affected the outcome. A notice period missed by a few days on a resolution every owner voted for will therefore usually have no consequences. If an owner was not invited at all, the picture is different.

Substantive defects concern the content: the resolution is contrary to proper management, breaches the community rules (Gemeinschaftsordnung), unfairly disadvantages individual owners, or allocates costs under a key that has no legal basis.

Nullity is something else, and rare. It requires a breach of a rule that cannot be waived (§ 23(4) sentence 1 WEG). The most important case: the owners’ association never had the power to decide the matter at all — for example, trying to interfere with an owner's unit (Sondereigentum) by majority vote, or amending the community rules without an opening clause. Resolutions that are immoral, or so vague that no workable rule can be derived from them, can also be void. A void resolution does not need to be challenged; anyone can rely on its nullity at any time. If you want certainty, an action for a declaration of nullity is not subject to any deadline.

The process

The local court (Amtsgericht) has jurisdiction regardless of the amount in dispute (§ 23 no. 2(c) GVG), and specifically only the court in whose district the property is located (§ 43(2) WEG). For properties in Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen, that is the respective local court. Appeals in WEG matters go to a central regional court, generally the one at the seat of the higher regional court (§ 72(2) GVG); the federal states may designate a different one.

The amount in dispute is based on the interest of all owners in the decision (§ 49 GKG). It is capped twice: at no more than seven and a half times the claimant's own interest, and at no more than the market value of their unit. An example: if an owner challenges a special levy (Sonderumlage) of €80,000 and their share is €8,000, the amount in dispute can be as high as €60,000 — creating a cost risk well above their own share of the levy.

Before you sue: three checks

The second point is the one most often overlooked. If an annual statement (Jahresabrechnung) is declared invalid because of a formal error, the property manager puts a corrected version to the vote again, and the owners’ association passes the same thing once more — this time without the error. What you have won is time, not the case. That can be the right outcome if time is what you need; as an end in itself, it is expensive.

The route before going to court

In most cases, talking is faster and cheaper. A factual note to the property manager (Verwalter) that a resolution was not passed properly regularly leads to the item being decided again, correctly, at an extraordinary meeting. Managers have their own interest in this: a challenged resolution costs them effort and becomes an argument against them at the next reappointment vote. If defective resolutions keep piling up, changing your property manager is a more effective lever than any single lawsuit.

One important point: these discussions do not stop the clock. Have them in parallel, not instead of meeting the deadline. If the month is running out and no agreement is in sight, the action has to be filed — it can still be withdrawn later. That is not free, though: on withdrawal the claimant bears the costs (§ 269(3) ZPO), albeit with a reduced court fee.

Substituting a resolution: the reverse case

Sometimes the problem is not a resolution that was passed but one that wasn't — the remedy is a Beschlussersetzungsklage. If the majority refuses to adopt a measure that is part of proper management — urgently needed maintenance, an adequate maintenance reserve (Erhaltungsrücklage), the appointment of a property manager — any owner can ask the court to substitute the resolution (§ 44(1) sentence 2 WEG). As a rule, the motion must first have been put to the owners' meeting and rejected or not dealt with there. Going straight to court usually fails for that reason alone.

This is the lever left to owners’ associations with no manager or with a blocked majority — alongside appointing a property management company that puts the open items to a proper vote. It is slow, but it works.

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This article explains the deadlines. For the lawsuit itself you need a law firm specialising in German condominium law (WEG) — within the first month, not afterwards.