Further dossiers in the illegal chalet affair in Verbier cleared up
Published: Thursday, Jan 18th 2024, 12:20
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The settlement of the illegal chalet affair in Verbier VS is one step closer. The canton of Valais has administratively closed around 100 dossiers relating to the Lex Koller. This federal law regulates the acquisition of real estate by persons abroad.
The Land Registry Office (DGB) analyzed a total of 102 corresponding dossiers, the canton of Valais announced on Thursday. In 37 cases, an additional permit was granted if the extension of the area was permitted. In 23 cases, the DGB found that the owners concerned were no longer subject to the Lex Koller, for example because they had moved their place of residence to the municipality.
In 38 cases, the DGB came to the conclusion that the approved plans corresponded with the realized buildings. In the remaining cases, the authority recognized that the dossiers were legally compliant based on an order from the municipality or a waiver to carry out work.
Hundreds of dossiers were not compliant
The Land Registry Service dealt with these dossiers after the State Council lifted the special superintendence over the municipality of Val de Bagnes, to which Verbier belongs, in June 2022. The Valais government opened these proceedings in spring 2016.
This was to ensure that the municipality introduced measures to guarantee compliance with building law. A year earlier, an expert report had identified significant legal deficiencies in the chalets built in the resort of Verbier.
The municipality of Bagnes approved dozens of illegal construction projects in 2015 and 2016, even though they violated the cantonal building regulations, the Lex Koller or the Second Homes Act. A report published by the municipality in 2021 with several hundred dossiers showed that 289 of 1267 construction dossiers submitted between April 2012 and April 2016 were not in compliance with the law.
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