“Tout déclassement ne fonde pas un droit à l’indemnisation du propriétaire”, immodroit.ch, newsletter avril 2025
Samuel Brückner analyses in the April edition of the Newsletter Immodroit.ch, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court’s decision 1C_275/2022 on compensation for downzoning.
In this ruling, the Federal Supreme Court reviews a decision by the Aargau Cantonal Appeal Court, which acknowledged that a planning measure by the Municipality of Mellingen – specifically aimed at reducing the size of the buildable area – constituted a downzoning giving rise to a right of affected owners to compensation.
While it upholds the classification of the measure as a downzoning, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that the landowner in question was not entitled to compensation, primarily due to the lapse of over 15 years since the previous zoning plan was enacted and the absence of any development on her land plot during that period. This decision confirms that landowners do not have a right to the perpetual retention of the building zone designation of their properties, even if such designation results from a zoning plan that is in conformity with the Federal Act on Spatial Planning.
