Indigenous model - is this still legal?

Good day everyone,

we are on the interested parties list of a small border municipality in Germany. In the past, this municipality sold plots of land to locals for €105/sqm and to outsiders for €120/sqm. They have since realized that this is no longer lawful.

Now I received a hint that we are ranked 100th out of about 25 plots, although we have been on the list for 2 years.

Explanation: The municipality uses a points system, where residing in the municipality leads to an improvement. There are also points if you work in the town. Because of this, most applicants have passed us despite having a child. What is held against us - but this is due to our own stupidity - is that we once owned property abroad, so we are not "first-time owners," which actually only applies to my partner. Perhaps we shouldn't have mentioned that, well, honesty is the fool's game in this case!

To my knowledge, local ties and workplace in the town are not social criteria. The income is not taken into account, but rather a connection which, in my opinion, contradicts EU freedom of movement.

We have legal expenses insurance, but I do not know how I can defend myself against this. If we were to get a plot, the prime pieces we have been saving for would probably already be gone, if there are any plots left at all. What damage would we have incurred that I could claim?

It is simply unfair. We want to live exactly in this municipality because we want our child to grow up bilingual, and this border municipality teaches both languages at the primary school. So we come from the border region, but are now disadvantaged because we have never lived or worked in that town. It’s enough to drive one crazy...

I am grateful for your assessment and advice!

so we come from the border area, but now we are disadvantaged because we have never lived in the town nor worked there. That's enough to drive you crazy...

Well, what is fair sometimes lies in the eye of the beholder. Imagine not getting a plot of land in your hometown, where you have also been working in a local company for 15 years, just because a "newcomer" is further ahead with family planning.

Otherwise, you can of course sue. But that will practically achieve nothing, Weilers will probably have to go to the ECJ for years, and many legal expenses insurances do not cover lawsuits against the state.

This way of thinking is simply abhorrent to me, local against newcomer! We live in a globalized world. Studying abroad, living abroad, using technologies from America. Why should I be given preference in my hometown? If it is to be fair, then a lottery or first in, first out. We are talking about the state here, not a private investor. The state has to adhere to laws within the EU and the criteria I mentioned are not a social factor. We have family 5 km across the border, that would be the same social factor as the circumstance of having lived there all your life. If this information had been available years ago, we could have moved there to at least secure the residential factor. It looks different for the employer, because apart from small retail and a few family businesses, there is nothing there for academics.

I understand the dissatisfaction. But they have to set some criteria, and that the locals are "somewhat" preferred is quite normal, I have heard and experienced that many times. I bet you that not all locals on the waiting list have also received a plot of land, anyone can complain about that. It’s not like there are enough plots available and you still don’t get one because you are not from the municipality.

Edit: Besides, the point "locals" is one of several points in the allocation, right?

I mean, what do you want to hear now, you messed it up yourself. The rules for the [Einheimischenmodell] are transparently available, so you could have deduced what has positive as well as negative effects. Just because you now feel disadvantaged doesn't mean the model isn't fair. It is fair in the sense that, as an outsider, you also have the opportunity to access the municipality's properties at a favorable price. You can also try it on the private market :-p

What do you think you can achieve with a lawsuit or a process of that scale?
The impact of a decision would be that the [Einheimischenmodell] might be strengthened or overturned nationwide.
Something your legal expenses insurance certainly wouldn't want to take on.

Next time, just read and understand the information document better.

Does one automatically have a right to a property if, for example, one grew up in Munich? Or Paris, London? I see it differently, not because I am affected but because I think on different scales. What comes next? Prefer Germans?