Gaps in “Lex Koller” – Make a fortune on Lake Brienz: Authorities approve Omani investor’s purchase of luxury property

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In 2009, an Omani businessman bought a property along with a house on Lake Brienz for 1,045,000 francs. Now he wants to sell it for more than six times the price. The interesting thing is that the pastoral property is larger than the law allows. However, as research by “Der Bund” shows, the municipality and the federal government have accepted the foreign owner’s demands on several occasions.

“Lex Koller”, which has been in force in Switzerland since 1983, regulates the acquisition of property by persons abroad. The aim of the law is to prevent wealthy foreigners from buying property in Switzerland as they wish and thus increasing prices. Foreigners outside the EU can only purchase one residence, provided that the property is not larger than 1000 m2, the net living area is not more than 200 m2 and the living area is not transferred.

Requests legally allowed

However, in the Omani businessman’s case, authorities made some exceptions. The real estate area is 70 square meters, above the legal requirements. The government prefecture of Interlaken-Oberhasli considered the surplus “minor” and still allowed the purchase of the property.

Eight years later, another request came from the Omanis. The businessman wanted the existing building to be completely demolished and replaced with a new building. In the plans, the net living area exceeded the legal limit by 24 square meters. However, the office still approved the project without objection. In his assessment, the official wrote, “The net living area of ​​224 square meters is justified for a family with 6 children.”

Deputy Governor of Interlaken-Oberhasli Martin Künzi emphasizes that in this case everything happened legally. In case of additional evidence of need, up to 250 square meters of net living space will be approved without further ado. Künzi says this is a regular practice at the Federal Justice Department. In addition to Oman’s office, the Federal Office of Justice and the Economic Affairs Office of the Canton of Bern also approved Oman’s requests.

Confusing sales ad

Whether this is beneficial to “Lex Koller’s” true desire is debatable. The businessman has now built a luxury detached house on his property. The sale price of the property is an incredible 6,890,000 francs. But that’s not all: The advert suddenly shows the gross living area of ​​the property as 498 square metres. It is said to have more than doubled in size as a result of the renovation.

Both the government prefecture and the municipality of Niederried near Interlaken contradict this figure. Community manager Beat Glarner says the building has even been inspected. No violations of maximum areas were found. The responsible real estate agency says there was an error in the transfer of the data. Marketing of the home is currently paused. (Snap)

Source :Blick