Calling an owners meeting in a German WEG: notice and steps

In Germany the invitation to an owners meeting (Eigentümerversammlung) should reach every owner at least three weeks before the date, and an email is enough (section 24(4) WEG). The property manager sends it. A shorter notice is allowed only in a genuine emergency; otherwise every resolution passed that evening can be challenged in court.

If you own a flat in Germany and live elsewhere, this is the date to watch. The meeting is where the budget, the special levies and any renovation get decided, and there is no minimum attendance.

Notice, form and agenda

Three weeks is the floor. The Act words it as a "should" rule with an exception for "particular urgency", say a burst pipe that needs a contractor approved at once; an annual meeting never qualifies. The Act does not say whether the three weeks run from posting or from delivery, and that gap is exactly what gets argued over in court. We always count from delivery and add three or four days for the post. For an owner abroad who still receives letters, a week of buffer is more honest. The cost is nothing, and it removes the most common ground for a challenge before anyone can raise it.

If there is no manager, or the manager wrongly refuses, the chair of the advisory board (Verwaltungsbeirat), their deputy or an owner authorised by resolution may call the meeting (section 24(3)). That is the usual route in a German WEG without a property manager.

Every item to be voted on must be named in the invitation, or the resolution is invalid (section 23(2)).

Quorum, votes and online meetings

There is no quorum. Since the reform of December 2020 the meeting can decide whatever the turnout, so an owner who stays home without a proxy leaves the decision to whoever attends. Resolutions pass by a majority of votes cast, one vote per owner unless the community's rules weight votes by share (section 25). Proxies must be in text form.

A hybrid meeting, with some owners joining online, needs only a simple majority resolution (section 23(1)). Since an amendment of October 2024, three quarters of the votes cast can make meetings fully virtual for up to three years (section 23(1a)). If that resolution is taken before 2028, one in-person meeting a year is still required through 2028 unless the owners waive it unanimously (section 48(6)).

Minutes and challenges

The law requires minutes of the resolutions without delay, signed by the chair of the meeting, one owner and, if there is an advisory board, its chair or deputy (section 24(6)). Each resolution also goes into the numbered register of resolutions, the Beschluss-Sammlung, which every owner may inspect. A buyer is bound by past resolutions even though they are not in the land register (section 10(3)).

To challenge a resolution, an owner must file suit within one month of the vote and submit the grounds within two months of the vote (section 45). After that the resolution stands, late invitation or not.

If you are the one sending the invitation, write down the date it must be in every letterbox before you fix the meeting date. Vecinly sends the invitation to every owner and keeps the date it went out next to the minutes; the page on international owners' associations explains how that works for owners in several countries. For the money side of the agenda, see our guide to Hausgeld, the monthly condo fee in Germany.

Information current as of September 2026. This article is general information on German WEG law and is not legal advice.