Important for apartment buyers: Have the purchase contract checked in advance!

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Anyone who doesn't buy apartments on a permanent basis is usually unable to accurately assess the content and scope of the business, neither legally nor factually. The draft contract comes from the notary. However, he only moderates and certifies the business that is offered to him by the parties involved. Unless there are indications to the contrary, the notary will assume that the parties involved basically know what they are doing.

If you want to know,

  • Is it a good idea what you're planning?
  • whether you can achieve your goals with it,
  • how the intended business looks in a market comparison and
  • what risks you have to reckon with, which may not immediately catch your eye from the draft contract,

you should consult a legal adviser. You can't replace that with Google or talking to friends and relatives, at least not if they don't come from the industry themselves.

At the moment, the question often arises as to whether after purchase own uses can be terminated, how long it takes, what it costs and what the chances are. It is advisable to check this before you buy the apartment, otherwise it may turn out afterwards that a temporary or permanent termination is not possible in your case. In addition, you can perhaps make an agreement with the tenant during the purchase that gives everyone involved planning security.

Or do you want the apartment as Capital investment to buy? Then you should calculate whether it's worth it. Is the currently agreed rent subject to rental price brakes? Not that you calculate and buy with a net cold rent of 900 euros, and then the tenant complains about the rent and it turns out that only 380 euros are permissible (by the way, this problem applies all the more if you not only buy a condominium, but a whole Apartment building). Which non-recoverable costs are incurred and are not reimbursed by the tenant as operating costs, i.e. do they have to be paid from the net rent?

Increased risks exist if you have one Property developer buy who still wants to renovate or build a property. A Projekt-GmbH as a seller can be wound up if, towards the end of the project, the costs of completion or the processing of defects exceed the remaining payment claims, then you have claims against someone who no longer exists. An independent professional should review the specification for you and discuss with you what is included, what may be missing and what the likely course of action is if demarcations between existing and refurbished are required. One should think about the content and scope of powers of attorney to the developer to adapt his project.

When signing a purchase agreement with a powerless representative the contract is pending pending approval, which can fail outside of the cancellation period for your purchase loan, leaving you with a loan that you cannot call and no longer have an object. This costs non-acceptance compensation, unless you can lend the loan with another object, which banks may currently use for renegotiation in an environment of rising interest rates, ie the loan then becomes more expensive. When buying land register pages that have not yet been created or from heirs (communities), processing issues can arise that lead to delays, which may also have repercussions on your financing.

You don't buy an apartment, you buy one co-ownership share in a community. Rights and obligations follow from this. It may be that you take over the seller's housing benefit debts because the declaration of division provides for this. Incidentally, the size of the apartment follows from the allocation plan. You should check whether it really has 3 rooms and not just 2, and the third room actually belongs to the neighboring apartment. Is the area information in the exposé correct? Are there decisions from the past that are relevant to you?

How does your purchase actually fit into the current one market environment? The notary will not comment on the purchase price. My permanent professional contact with industry participants and contract processes gives me a bird's eye view, which I would be happy to make available to you for your assessment.

How solid is yours brokerage contract? Can you revoke it and save the commission? Did you pay a reservation fee and maybe you can claim it back? Of course, I can only help you here if the broker is not already a client with me, because I also work on the broker side. This has to be clarified briefly with my secretariat before a mandate.

If you are currently in the purchase process and want to have one or more related topics checked, please contact my secretariat at marx@ikb-law.de or 0049 30 88489022.