Background and Content of the Novelle
On July 3, 2025, the House of Representatives adopted the bill Strengthening Housing Policy Control, including several amendments that the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning had advised against. The amendments included a ban on urgency status for foreign housing seekers, a provision for transferring permit authority for technical construction activities to the minister after a deadline, and adjustments to the preferential rights on real estate. The minister subsequently examined the legality and feasibility of several amended parts of the law. After this review, the minister initiated a so-called novelle procedure. A novelle modifies the bill after the House of Representatives has already approved it. With the novelle, the minister cancels two amended parts of the bill and modifies a third amended part.
Careless Legislative Process
Todays advice from the Advisory Division concerns this novelle. The Advisory Division notes that the legislative process was careless. During the debate in the House of Representatives, over a hundred amendments on various topics were submitted in a short time. Due to the time pressure during the handling of these amendments, there was no opportunity to carefully weigh important questions related to legislative quality before the vote. These questions were therefore insufficiently addressed. Only after the vote was it found that several amendments conflicted with higher law or were unfeasible.
Novelle Carefully Prepared
The Advisory Division endorses the ministers assessment that there is reason to use the special instrument of the novelle to amend the parts of the bill that are legally untenable or practically unfeasible. According to the Advisory Division, the novelle was carefully prepared. It has no comments on the content of the novelle and advises the government to submit the novelle to the House of Representatives.
