In 2020, the police nationwide registered 414 cases of ATM demolitions – an increase of 18.6 percent. This is now leading to a process in Düsseldorf.
Düsseldorf/Ratingen – For fear of an ATM being blown up, co-owners of an apartment building in Ratingen near Düsseldorf have sued a bank.
They want an ATM on the ground floor of their house to be dismantled – but they have little chance of doing so, as the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court made clear on Monday at the beginning of an appeal hearing.
The two spouses, as the majority of the three owners, had sued the tenant of the premises – a Spanish bank. According to their own statements, they are afraid that a blast could damage both the house and people. According to the plaintiffs, the developments of the last few months have shown “the brutality with which” criminal gangs who blow up ATMs acted.
The bank refuses to dismantle the ATM in its downtown branch in Ratingen – and won the first instance before the district court in early November. “The colleagues made the right decision,” emphasized the presiding judge at the Higher Regional Court on Monday. The risk of an explosion feared by the plaintiffs was abstract and small. With 70,000 ATMs nationwide, the number of blasts was 350, according to the judge.
However, the current case is not about potential dangers. The problem is a declaration of division by the owners from 1971. It provides for the operation of a bank branch and allows an ATM. Its installation is therefore neither an impermissible change to the house nor an impermissible use.
The court advised the plaintiff owners to come to an agreement with the co-owner and landlord of the ground floor rooms and to adapt the declaration of division. Then the dismantling of the ATM could be enforced. However, the plaintiff doubted on Monday that the third party in the federal government would play along. A decision is expected to be announced by the court on March 21. dpa
