Yesterday, we at KFR – Kanzlei für Real Estate in cooperation with the BFW Regional Association North held a seminar under the title “Urban Development Contracts – Error-Prone Clauses Discussed on the Basis of Current Case Law.”
Content and objective of the seminar
Dr. Henrik Kirchhoff and Carlotta Zimmermann (née Vohl) presented typical risks in the conclusion of urban development contracts using examples from recent case law and demonstrated through contract examples from our practice how urban development contracts can be drafted in a legally secure manner.
Since the conclusion of urban development contracts in the context of project development and the construction of building projects now represents the standard case, avoiding defective clauses and thereby ensuring a valid contract is indispensable for the successful realization of projects.
Discussion and participants
That urban development contracts have high practical relevance was demonstrated not least by the in-depth and constructive discussion with approximately 35 seminar participants.
Following a brief overview of the most common types of urban development contracts, such as
- the “cost assumption agreement”,
- “construction realization agreement” and
- development or implementation agreement,
principles and general formal and substantive requirements for concluding contracts were presented.
Legal foundations and practical examples
In addition to the requirement of proportionality, the prohibition on coupling and the prohibition on impermissible plan binding, as well as the strict handling of these by case law, the focus was in particular on examples from higher court case law on temporal obligations and time limits as well as permanent occupancy rights.
Subsequently, using practical examples, the urban development requirements regularly stipulated by the municipality were compared and discussed against the possible means of ensuring and implementing them.
Since not all requirements can be implemented through land use planning provisions or regulations in urban development contracts, further alternatives were also discussed. The focus this time was primarily on urban development requirements regarding the construction and use type “residential”, e.g. ensuring permanent or age-appropriate housing.
Focus: Urban development requirements and consequential costs
Finally, the topic of consequential costs of infrastructure measures was also discussed using the example of public facilities, childcare centers and primary schools, with particular emphasis on the requirement of causality.
Conclusion and thanks
The conclusion of urban development contracts is of great practical importance for both municipalities and investors and project developers. Only through legally secure drafting of contracts can construction projects be efficiently and cooperatively developed and realized.
We are pleased to have been able to provide an insight into this topic through the seminar and would like to warmly thank the BFW Regional Association North and Hamburger Feuerkasse Versicherungs AG for their support.
Are you planning a construction project or would you like your urban development contracts to be drafted in a legally secure manner?
KFR Kanzlei für Real Estate – Hamburg & München
Unverbindlich anfragen: info@kfr.law