29-11-07
On Wednesday 7 November 2007 the Danish High Court ruled in favour of the Ministry of Social Affairs in a case between the latter and CECODHAS member organisation Boligselskabernes Landsforening (BL). BL claimed the Parliament had disregarded the protection of private ownership by allowing tenants to buy their rented flats without the consent of the housing organisation, when the Law on Non-Profit Housing was amended in 2004. Eventually, 5 out of 9 judges argued that it cannot be stated with certainty that Parliament has violated the constitution in relation to private ownership.
Nevertheless, considering the results of the court ruling and the following declarations by the ministry of Social Affairs, BL has expressed his faith that no more attempts will be made to violate the ownership of the non-profit housing sector.

Background information
The amendment of the law on non-profit housing in 2004 introduced a temporary mechanism, ending up in 2007. Over that period it has been possible for residents in social housing to buy their own flat without the consent of the housing organisation but only with the approval of tenants in the individual departments, under certain circumstances (namely, dwellings for families, which are more than 15 years old, can be bought by the tenants. The number of dwellings in that category amounted to 443.500 in 2004). It is by the way a "trial-law" expiring at the end of 2007, therefore its impact has been very limited and so far only 25 dwellings have been taken over by tenants. BL expects that in total approximately 150 dwellings will be sold by the end of 2007, compared to 5.000 which the Government was expecting. On the other hand, within the framework of policies aimed at increasing social mix and opposing social segregation, sale of social housing is already possible in areas with empty flats and with the approval of the housing organisation, tenants, the municipality and the Ministry of Social Affairs, a concerted mechanism allowing much more balanced choice according to housing organisations.

Court ruling and further developments
The court ruling was not crystal clear: the majority of judges did not take a stand on who owns the dwellings – whether it is the individual department or the housing organisation – while 4 out of 9 judges clearly stated that the housing organisations are the owners and therefore the law implies expropriation of private property.
Furthermore, the Minister of Social Affairs (Minister of Welfare after the elections) has stated that she will take the court ruling into consideration when deliberating on new legislation on sale of social housing, and that the starting point will be a common competence of decision, whereby the housing organisations together with the individual departments and the municipality can decide whether and to what extent dwellings shall be sold in order to avoid ghettoes. The narrow juridical defeat is therefore likely to represent the set off of forthcoming solutions as far as the non-profit housing sector is concerned.

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