Circular economy and real estate: the legal (im)possibilities of operational lease

H Ploeger (Corresponding Author), M Prins, A Straub, Robert van den Brink

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: A paradigm in circular economy (CE) is that suppliers retain ownership of their products and materials, and that the users “only” pay for services. In many legal systems, however, elements incorporated in a building are considered to be fixtures, and therefore legally part of the building. This means that ensuring multi-cyclic behaviour of individual building elements (e.g. the facade or a window) is not so evident. This paper explores, from the perspective of Dutch law, how to secure the ownership of the supplier or to find alternatives within the existing system of property law. Design/methodology/approach: The authors performed a literature review of both CE and (Dutch) property law. The results of these reviews are discussed and illustrated by legal case studies. Findings: The options principally advocated within CE to retain ownership of building parts leave legal uncertainties and do not offer a solid basis for the development of circular business models, especially considering immovables and fixtures. For these categories, buy-back and take-back contracts, and models for reuse and recycling seem more promising. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited to a literature review. Although the legal principles discussed in this paper are valid for both civil and common law systems, and similar findings might, therefore, be expected internationally, this study focused on the specific Dutch legal context. Comparative legal research and research of best practices in the building industry is needed to test the applicability of the findings in an international context. Practical implications: Following the findings, CE initiatives within real estate and the construction industry should focus on alternative implementations of the operational lease concept, taking into account CE’s ambitions to reduce the extraction of raw materials. Originality/value: At the moment the challenges that property law poses CE, real estate and operational lease are hardly discussed within the literature. This paper explores this gap.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)653-668
Number of pages16
JournalFacilities
Volume37
Issue number9/10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jun 2019
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Real Estate
  • Circular business models
  • Circular Economy
  • Operational Lease
  • Property Law
  • Service Providing
  • Circular economy
  • Service providing
  • Property law
  • Real estate
  • Operational lease

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Circular economy and real estate: the legal (im)possibilities of operational lease'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this