Housing subsidies: provision deleted

federal court

Provision of the new Basel Housing Promotion Act repealed

The approval for the conversion of a property, which is required in the case of a housing shortage in the canton of Basel-Stadt, must not be made dependent on the previous tenants being able to return. The federal court overturned this provision in the Housing Promotion Act.

The provision violates the constitutionally guaranteed primacy of federal law, as the Federal Supreme Court wrote in a judgment published on Friday. According to the case law of the federal court, the cantons are allowed to take proportionate measures to combat rent shortages.

For example, it is permissible to subject the conversion or demolition of residential buildings to a permit requirement or to link this permit to a state rent control for a certain period of time.