The Finance Ministry noted the decision allows tax assessment preparations to continue in the hope that it will be possible to levy the tax for 2014 after all.

The court stayed implementation of several provisions of the act governing the tax assessments but left the remainder of the law intact for now.

But the stay on the issue of tax assessments in effect puts the act on ice until a final ruling is reached, according to the dissenting opinion penned by four judges.

The stay was put in place due to "significant financial and administrative burdens" that would occur with the expected surge in appeals against the tax assessments.

If the challenged provisions are found to be incompatible with the Constitution, the stay will prevent the occurrence of harmful consequences, the court said.

The Constitutional Court received six petitions challenging the act, from MPs as well as individual municipalities and associations of municipalities.

The applicants challenged multiple provisions governing the tax base and the funding of municipalities.

The tax is a linchpin of the budgets for 2014 and 2015, as the treasury would collect about EUR 200m per year and municipalities an additional EUR 200m.

The government suggested last year that a special crisis tax could be put in place in the event the property tax is brought down.

The Finance Ministry responded today by saying it was happy with the court's decision to only stay parts of the law and in effect allowing tax assessment preparations to continue.

The ministry added that it hoped the court would give absolute priority to the case and reach a final decision soon enough to allow the tax for 2014 to be levied after all.

It repeated its warning about the serious consequences a full staying of the act, which entered into force as of 2014, would have for the national budget as well as local budgets.