Austria’s Constitutional Court strikes down parts of Vorarlberg building law

Austria’s Constitutional Court has struck down parts of Vorarlberg’s building law because they failed to consider whether renovating a building was economically viable, ORF reported. The ruling followed a dispute over plans to demolish the former Löwen inn in Dornbirn-Hatlerdorf.

The law allowed authorities to block demolition on grounds of protecting the townscape, without weighing the cost of renovation for the owner. The court said that was a disproportionate and unconstitutional interference with property rights.

The inn’s owner, a real estate company linked to the Spar group, had sought permission to demolish the building. Dornbirn’s mayor refused, citing an adverse assessment from a planning and building-design expert. The regional administrative court upheld that decision, describing the building as a gabled-roof house in the Rhine Valley, originally built in the 1850s and used as an inn for many years.

The Constitutional Court annulled two provisions of the law and overturned the administrative court’s decision. The case must now be reconsidered with the owner’s interests taken into account. The ruling does not automatically mean demolition will be approved: the court must assess whether renovation would be economically unreasonable and how that weighs against the public interest in protecting the townscape.

Vorarlberg’s state parliament has until the end of October 2027 to amend the law. The provisions cannot be applied to the Löwen case while that review is under way.