Calling an extraordinary owners’ meeting: how the 25 per cent rule works

When a meeting outside the usual schedule makes sense

Once a year, the property manager invites everyone to the ordinary owners’ meeting (Eigentümerversammlung). For most owners’ associations (WEG), that is enough. Sometimes, though, a matter cannot wait until next spring: the roof is leaking and needs a renovation resolution. The heating has failed. A statutory deadline is running out, for example for remote-readable meters. Or – the most common reason – the owners want to part ways with their manager, and that very manager has little interest in putting the topic on the agenda.

For these cases, the law gives owners a tool of their own: the request to convene a meeting under § 24(2) WEG. It is easier to use than many people think.

The threshold: more than a quarter – counted per head

The manager must call a meeting if more than a quarter of the owners demand it. What counts is the number of owners – not the number of flats and not the size of their co-ownership shares.

A practical example: a building with eleven flats has nine owners, because one owner holds three flats. A quarter of nine is 2.25 – so you need at least three owners. The owner of three flats counts only once. A flat owned jointly by a married couple also counts as one head.

Also check your community rules (Gemeinschaftsordnung). They can define further situations in which a meeting must be called – the law expressly refers to this.

How to word the request

The law requires text form and a statement of purpose and reasons. An email is enough. To make sure your request leaves no room for objections, it should include:

The proposed resolutions are more than a formality. The more precisely they are worded, the less room the manager has to water down the agenda item – and the better the resolutions are protected against a later challenge.

How quickly the manager has to act

The law sets no fixed response time. The manager must, however, act on the request promptly; leaving it untouched for weeks is a breach of duty. For the invitation itself, it should reach owners at least three weeks before the meeting (§ 24(4) WEG), unless the matter is particularly urgent.

Realistically, then, four to six weeks pass between your letter and the meeting. Plan for this, especially if a change of manager is meant to take effect on a specific date.

If the manager doesn’t send the invitation

If the manager refuses in breach of duty, or simply doesn’t respond, § 24(3) WEG allows others to call the meeting:

• the chair of the advisory board (Verwaltungsbeirat) or their deputy,
• an owner authorised to do so by a resolution of the association.

The second route has a catch: the authorising resolution requires a meeting – exactly the one that isn’t happening. In practice, a working advisory board is therefore worth its weight in gold. How to set one up and what it may do is explained in our article on the rights and duties of the advisory board.

If there is no advisory board, the usual route is the local court. An owner can sue the owners’ association and obtain a court order authorising them to call the meeting (§ 44 WEG). It works, but it takes months.

A word of caution: if owners send invitations without being entitled to do so, the resolutions passed are open to challenge. Stick strictly to the order – first the request to the manager, then the deadline, then the advisory board.

The classic case: a meeting to change managers

Most extraordinary meetings we see have one goal: to dismiss a manager who no longer delivers. This usually calls for three agenda items – dismissal, termination of the contract and appointment of a new manager, each with a proposed resolution. How to proceed, and what role an “important reason” still plays today, is explained in our article on dismissing your property manager.

So that the new manager can be elected at the same meeting, quotes should be obtained beforehand and sent out with the invitation. Our guide to tendering property management shows how.

Is there a faster way?

Yes – if truly everyone is on board. A resolution can be passed without a meeting by written circulation (Umlaufbeschluss) if all owners agree in text form (§ 23(3) WEG). For an individual matter, the association can also decide in advance that a simple majority is enough in the circulation procedure. For contested topics – and a change of manager is almost always contested – the meeting remains the safe route.

After the meeting, all owners have one month to challenge the resolutions. Our challenge deadline calculator shows you the last day instantly.

---

If your owners’ association has to force a meeting, it is usually a sign that more is wrong. Ravenica is a property management company for Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen and is happy to introduce itself at your meeting. Write to us via the contact form.