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

The invitation went out two weeks before the date, the meeting ran smoothly, the roof renovation passed unanimously. Six months later the local court strikes the resolution down, not because of what was decided, but because of the calendar. That scenario is the most common failure around the notice for a German owners meeting, the Eigentümerversammlung. Since the WEMoG reform, the invitation must reach the owners at least three weeks before the meeting, as set out in § 24 WEG, the German Condominium Act. Cut it shorter and every resolution passed that evening (from the annual budget to a major renovation) becomes open to challenge.

What is the notice period for the invitation?

Three weeks is the legal minimum, not the recommendation. The period runs to the moment the invitation reaches the owner, not the moment it is sent, so anyone posting letters has to build in delivery time. A habit worth copying from experienced managers: document the dispatch and add three or four days of buffer. It costs nothing and removes the most popular ground for challenging resolutions before anyone can raise it.

Since the reform, text form is enough: an email counts, and a hand-signed letter is no longer required.

Convening the meeting is the manager's job.

If there is no manager, or the manager wrongfully refuses, the chair of the advisory board (Verwaltungsbeirat) may send the invitation, or their deputy, or an owner authorised to do so by resolution.

A proper invitation also includes the agenda: every item on which a resolution is planned must be described clearly enough for owners to know what is at stake and prepare. A resolution on a topic that was never announced stands on the same shaky ground as one passed after a short notice period.

When does the meeting have a quorum?

Here the 2020 reform removed an old worry: the meeting can always pass resolutions, no matter how many owners show up. The former quorum of half the co-ownership shares was abolished without replacement, repeat meetings for lack of attendance no longer exist.

That sounds convenient, but it cuts both ways: owners who stay home without granting a proxy hand the decision to whoever attends. In theory, a single owner who turns up can pass every resolution of the evening alone.

For the vote itself, § 25 WEG requires a simple majority of the votes cast; abstentions are not counted. By default each owner has one vote, counted per head, unless the community's governing rules provide otherwise, for instance a weighting by co-ownership shares.

Is an online owners meeting valid?

Yes, on two levels. A hybrid meeting (in person plus online participation) can be adopted by simple majority resolution. Owners joining remotely must be able to exercise the same rights as those in the room, from speaking to voting.

Since October 2024 the law goes a step further: with a three-quarters majority of the votes cast, the community may resolve to hold its meetings fully online. Such a resolution is valid for a maximum of three years and must then be renewed.

Legal note: until the end of 2028, at least one in-person meeting per year must still be held despite such a resolution, unless the owners unanimously waive it.

What must the minutes contain?

Minutes (Niederschrift) must be drawn up without delay.

They should record the place and time, the attendees and their proxies, the motions put forward, the voting results and the exact wording of the resolutions as announced. They must be signed by the chair of the meeting, one owner and (where one exists) the chair of the advisory board or their deputy. Alongside the minutes runs the Beschluss-Sammlung, the register of resolutions: every resolution is entered there without delay, consecutively numbered and dated. It is the community's memory, buyers of a flat are bound by the resolutions recorded in it and are entitled to inspect it.

A resolution, by the way, takes effect the moment it is announced in the meeting, not when the minutes are finished. Patchy minutes leave the resolution valid yet make it nearly impossible to defend in court.

How long can resolutions be challenged?

Anyone who considers a resolution unlawful has to move fast: a challenge under § 45 WEG must be filed with the court within one month of the resolution being passed, and the grounds must be submitted within two further months.

Once the deadline passes, the resolution becomes final, even if the invitation really was sent too late. Only in exceptional cases, such as particularly serious violations, is a resolution void from the outset and open to attack without any deadline.

Which brings the story back to the invitation: formal defects in the notice period and the agenda are the classic grounds for a challenge. Send a clean invitation and you take the lawsuit's best argument away before it is ever written.

Running an owners meeting under German law is no dark art: invite on time and in full, word and announce resolutions clearly, and keep the minutes and the register of resolutions up to date without delay. The three-week notice period is the one number every manager (and every board member who has to step in) should circle in red: all of the evening's resolutions hang on it.

Information current as of July 2026. This article is for general information on German WEG law and does not constitute legal advice.