Taking Possession of Vacant Buildings to House Refugees in Germany: Is the Constitutional Property Clause an Insurmountable Hurdle?
Abstract
Germany faces a challenge unknown since the end of the Second World War. In 2015, around 1.1 million asylum seekers and refugees registered in Germany. The German authorities must provide temporary housing for hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers to safeguard their human dignity, life, health, and physical integrity. As there already is a shortage of housing in the major metropolitan areas, the legislature of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg authorised its authorities temporarily to take possession of vacant privately owned buildings if there is not enough space for refugees in reception camps. This deprivation of the use of the buildings begs the question whether this law complies with the constitutional property clause (Art. 14 of the German Basic Law). In this contribution I argue that the law is not contrary to Art. 14. As Art. 14 requires, taking possession of the buildings is a suitable and necessary means to protect the refugees and asylum seekers. However, as the competent authority imposes an excessive burden upon a small number of owners, the authority will have to award equitable compensation on the basis of the adopted law to ensure the proportionality of the measure.
© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Modern Studies in Property Law – 2016 biennial conference
- Articles
- The Problematic Concept of Possession in the DCFR: Lessons from Law and Economics of Possession
- Taking Possession of Vacant Buildings to House Refugees in Germany: Is the Constitutional Property Clause an Insurmountable Hurdle?
- Purchasing A Property In Spain
- Book Review
- Modern Studies in Property Law, Volume 8, Edited by Warren Barr, Hart Publishing 2015, 382 pages, ISBN 978-1-84946-622-6, £ 80.00
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Modern Studies in Property Law – 2016 biennial conference
- Articles
- The Problematic Concept of Possession in the DCFR: Lessons from Law and Economics of Possession
- Taking Possession of Vacant Buildings to House Refugees in Germany: Is the Constitutional Property Clause an Insurmountable Hurdle?
- Purchasing A Property In Spain
- Book Review
- Modern Studies in Property Law, Volume 8, Edited by Warren Barr, Hart Publishing 2015, 382 pages, ISBN 978-1-84946-622-6, £ 80.00
