2022

Which Christmas colors are in vogue this year? The portal schoener-wohnen.de has found out and comes to the conclusion that the color blue in subtle or deep nuances is particularly popular. For example, a tablecloth, the napkins or the candles in blue-gray or blue-brown tones can be chosen. Those who like it even more daring, can instead opt for a...

A good 52 percent of homes in Germany are heated with natural gas. This is the result of the 2021 Consumption Characteristics Study by energy service provider Techem. For the study, data on final energy and water consumption as well as the costs for heating and hot water of 2.1 million German apartments in around 176,000 apartment buildings were examined. The study also included more than 90,000...

Anyone thinking about building a house should obtain comprehensive information about it in advance. So that nothing goes wrong with the project, the portal Bau Praxis provides "25 tips for better building for private builders". These range from "obtaining factual basic information" to "checking the condition of the soil" and "making one's own contributions". To begin with, for example, model houses can be viewed,...

Prof. Dr. Harald Funke and his team at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the FH Aachen - University of Applied Sciences have received the Innovation Award of the German Gas Industry in the category "Efficient Application Technology" for the co-development of their H2 micro-mix burner, which enables hydrogen to be burned in gas turbines in a low-emission, safe and CO2-neutral manner. Already in...

A property owner cannot be held responsible for all accidents that occur on her property. This has now been decided by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (OLG, Ref. 17 W 17/22). In the case in question, a neighbor walked across a rain-soaked stone path covered with leaves and branches to the owner's terrace to talk to her. On the way back, she fell and...

The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) draws attention to the hazardous effect on health of the radioactive gas radon, which can occur in any building. In the study "Erfassung des Umgangs der deutschen Bevölkerung mit Radon als Grundlage für Risikokommunikation und Stärkung des Schutzverhaltens" with 3,000 respondents, the Bfs had previously found out that although radon is known, the knowledge...

After Toronto, the risk of a real estate bubble is highest in Frankfurt am Main, Zurich and Munich. This is the result of a study by the major Swiss bank UBS. In Frankfurt am Main, real estate prices have more than doubled in nominal terms, according to UBS. Between mid-2021 and mid-2022, however, growth in the two cities was only around 5 percent. The major Swiss bank...

Reducing dependence on raw material imports and strengthening domestic raw material production - this is what the German Construction Industry Federation (HDB) and the Federal Association of Building Materials - Stone and Earth (bbs) are calling for in the joint position paper "Ensuring security of supply of raw and construction materials and energy - further increasing resource efficiency". The associations fear that...

How can apartments and houses be made barrier-free and energy-saving at the same time? The energy consulting service of the consumer advice center provides several tips on this. For example, owners have design options with regard to entrance doors, balcony and terrace doors, bathrooms and smart homes. In the case of the entrance door, it is important to ensure that new steps are as...

Private landlords may not carelessly rent out their property to relatives at an exorbitant rent. This was the decision of the Frankfurt am Main Local Court (AZ: 940 OWi 862 Js 44556/21). In the case in question, a private landlord had rented out his 53-square-meter, two-room apartment to his cousin and his family for 810 euros per month. The local comparative rent was allowed to...