February 2022

A real estate purchase contract cannot be rescinded without further ado if a crime has been committed in the property and the buyer was unaware of this when signing the contract. This was recently decided by the Coburg Regional Court (Coburg Regional Court, judgment dated 06.10.2020, case reference: 11 O 92/20). In this case, a buyer had purchased a house in 2018. The seller had not told her about the...

The costs of modernization measures are broken down by the wohnen-magazin.de portal. Under the "Modernize" tab, interested parties will find a tool where they can choose between "Energy-efficient renovation" and "Create living space". Under "Energetic refurbishment", for example, planned modernization measures such as "Modernize heating",...

62% of consumers fear that the rise in energy prices will place a heavy burden on them. This is the result of a survey conducted by Kantar on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv). Furthermore, according to the survey, 71% of consumers do not want electricity or gas to be cut off to insolvent customers on low incomes by the end of April 2022. In the telephone survey...

Building prices have recently risen enormously. According to the Federal Statistical Office, producer prices for building materials such as wood and steel in particular rose more sharply on average in 2021 than at any time since the survey began in 1949. Solid structural timber also increased in price, by 77.3 percent compared to the previous year's average. Roof battens became 65.1 percent more expensive and...

Owners and tenants can reduce their heating costs by taking various measures. This is now pointed out by the VdZ - Forum for Energy Efficiency in Building Technology. For example, they can lower the room temperature slightly. For every degree lowered, around six percent of energy can be saved. In addition, the radiators should not be set to the highest level, as this can cause rooms to...

A landlord may not immediately give notice to a tenant who has withheld part of her rent due to the Berlin rent cap. This has now been decided by the Berlin Regional Court. In this case, the tenant had withheld part of the rent since March 2020 in reliance on the rent cap. She did not immediately pay back this part after the rent cap ended in spring 2021,...

What can young tenants look out for when moving into their first home? The bellevue.nzz.ch website provides the answer to this question and various tips. Before buying furniture and accessories, it is advisable to think about the furnishing style. Tenants should also think about the choice of colors in advance and decide on a color family.

Despite the sharp rise in real estate and land prices, Germans are still happy to invest in their own home and the number of loan agreements remains "at a consistently high level". This is the conclusion reached by ING Germany on the basis of the Baufi-Barometer. Based on the question "How does Germany finance", the construction financing data of ING customers was analyzed on an anonymous basis....

A large proportion of pollutant emissions can be reduced through good planning during construction. The Federal Environment Agency has now pointed this out. A study - carried out between summer 2018 and winter 2020 in two new development areas in Berlin - shows that taking environmental concerns into account at an early planning stage can reduce pollutant emissions from construction projects by more than 90 percent.

Due to the rise in energy prices, the Heat+ initiative advises owners to renovate their homes to make them more energy efficient. This has several advantages: The energy efficiency of the property can be increased and costs can be reduced. Owners also make a contribution to environmental and climate protection. One of the measures the Initiative Wärme+ advises owners to take is to heat with...