The latest amendment to the Austrian Condominium Act (Wohnungseigentumsgesetz, WEG) introduces a series of practice-relevant changes in 2026 that directly affect both ownership communities and property managers. The focus is on simpler majorities for necessary renovation work, the legally robust recognition of digital owners’ meetings and clearer rules for distributing costs of energy-related measures. We summarise what condominium owners and managers should pay attention to now.

Majorities: Easier Path to Renovation and Climate Measures

Until now, many urgently needed measures — such as thermal renovation, lift installations or charging infrastructure — failed because of the WEG’s traditionally high resolution threshold. The amendment lowers this threshold for defined catalogues of measures and thereby creates substantial relief in the day-to-day life of ownership communities.

Specifically, this concerns:

• Installation of photovoltaic systems and battery storage
• Installation and expansion of EV charging stations
• Thermal renovation of the building envelope
• Barrier-free conversions and lift retrofits

For many existing properties, the path to energy modernisation is therefore considerably shortened.

Digital Owners’ Meetings Become the Standard

The 2026 WEG amendment recognises hybrid and fully digital owners’ meetings as equivalent, provided certain technical and organisational minimum requirements are met: traceable identity verification, documented voting and audit-proof minutes.

This is a response to the practice of recent years — many management companies have long organised meetings online, but in legal grey zones. Now there is clarity, which makes contestation more difficult.

Clearer Rules for Cost Distribution

A recurring point of dispute was the distribution of costs for measures that do not affect all owners equally — such as lift retrofits for higher floors or underground garage extensions. The amendment introduces clearer distribution keys and strengthens the position of the majority against blocking individual interests.

At the same time, protective mechanisms for disproportionately burdened owners are codified: anyone who bears significantly more through a building measure can, under certain conditions, demand cost compensation.

What Property Managers Should Do Now

For property managers and commercial management companies, the amendment primarily means: digitise processes, update resolution templates and inform owners in a legally robust manner.

Modernise Resolution Documents

Templates for owner resolutions must reflect the new majority rules and the option of digital voting. Anyone working with outdated templates risks contestation proceedings.

Introduce Digital Tools for Meetings

Hybrid meetings only work with reliable technology: streaming, documented voting, exportable minutes. Pure conference calls are not enough — identity verification must be traceable.

Inform Owners Actively

Condominium owners often do not know what new options the amendment opens up for them. Proactive communication — for instance via the owner portal — prevents conflicts and builds trust.

How nuimmo Helps

Managing ownership communities requires clear processes and transparent communication. nuimmo provides integrated tools that take work off the hands of property managers and brokerage firms when implementing the WEG changes:

• Owner portal with audit-grade provision of resolution documents
• Digital scheduling for owners’ meetings, with invitation, registration and minutes distribution
• Legally robust communication trail — all owner emails and letters are archived audit-proof
• Multilingual support for international owners that meets the WEG’s information duties in the owner’s language

Conclusion

The 2026 WEG amendment significantly lowers the barriers to necessary modernisation and brings condominium law into the digital age. For property managers, this is an opportunity to simplify processes — provided their own tools are prepared for the new requirements. Anyone who updates now avoids later conflicts in day-to-day operations and positions themselves as a modern manager.

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Note: This article provides a general overview. For legally robust implementation in individual cases, legal advice is indispensable.

Sources:

• Federal Law Gazette — Condominium Act amendment, RIS consolidated federal law
• Federal Ministry for Housing — Explanatory notes to the 2026 WEG amendment
• Austrian Real Estate Association (ÖVI) — Practice guides for property managers