Because ground leases are increasingly expiring or having to be extended prematurely, the City of Wolfsburg has made the following arrangements for the ground lease holders concerned:

If the ground lease is to be extended after expiry, the ground rent is reset on the basis of the current land value.

Since January 1, 2015, the ground rent has generally been set at five percent, as it has been for new ground leases. Because there are cases in which the ground rent could rise by more than 100 percent after a period of time, in these cases a gradual increase of ten percent per year is applied over ten years to mitigate the high interest rate jump.

Ground leases with a remaining term of between 5 and 40 years can be extended prematurely for the purpose of financing in the event of a change in the ground lease holder or in the event of investments. In these cases, the City of Wolfsburg offers special conditions to the leaseholders. Here, the current standard land value is used as a basis and interest is charged at four percent instead of five percent.

In the case of a remaining term of 40 years, for example, it is reduced by a further 40 percent (one percent per year of remaining term). This gives leaseholders a financially calculable basis for the continuation of their ground lease.

Regulations for the purchase of hereditary building plots

The city of Wolfsburg offers a discount of up to 15 percent of the current market value of the unencumbered property to leaseholders who wish to acquire ownership of their land. The prerequisite for this is that the building is used for own residential use or for residential use within the family (relatives in a straight line). A discount is also granted for mixed-use buildings (own residential use and commercial use), provided that the use is predominantly residential.

If the ground rent has already been redeemed in the past, the redemption amount attributable to the remaining term after the sale is offset against the reduced purchase price. However, a sale of the municipal property is out of the question if there are planning or land-use planning reasons to the contrary.

Redemption of ground rent

Owners of leasehold apartments have the option of redeeming the ground rent for their apartment by making a one-off payment. The redemption amount is approximately 15 times the annual ground rent.

Declaration of urban rights

If heritable building rights are encumbered with loans, the City of Wolfsburg issues the necessary declarations (standstill declarations, deletion approvals).