2022

A guidebook entitled "Mietkosten im Griff. Incidental costs, rent increases, housing defects" has now been published by the consumer advice center and the German Tenants' Association. On 192 pages, various topics such as apartment hunting, rent and cosmetic repairs are discussed to show how savings can be made. For example, the guidebook addresses the following questions...

More and more teenagers and young adults are moving away from home more quickly. This is the result of a report by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Thus, 2.6 of 8.3 million 15- to 24-year-olds no longer lived at home in 2021. This corresponds to 31.2 percent. Ten years earlier, only 27.5 percent had moved out of the parental home at this age. According to data from the Statistical...

The German Prefabricated Housing Association (BDF) points out the advantages of buying semi-detached houses. The advantages are, for example, lower construction and land costs and low energy costs compared to single-family homes, it says. The reasons for this are that the construction and land costs are shared by two parties and that semi-detached houses, according to the BDF, are built in a particularly energy-saving...

If owners want to renew their facade, they can also install new doors and windows in the process. Martin Brandis, energy expert at the consumer advice center, advises this. The reason for this is that heat can be lost through old windows, for example. According to the consumer advice center, the heat loss factor (UW value) for old windows is 3.0 or more and thus exceeds the statutory...

A castle in Thuringia may be referred to as a "lost place. This was decided by the Munich Local Court (AZ: 142 C 14251/20). In the case in question, an American company that owns the castle sued for damages for copyright infringement. The defendant showed photos of the castle on its website, including of the interior, and referred to it there as...

Residents without their own assets are being squeezed out of the housing market by tourists and due to financial considerations. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Department of Human Geography at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) led by Professor Dr. Christian Steiner and Dr. Gerhard Rainer. Using the example of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, they have investigated the influence...

A vacation property in Mallorca is a real bargain compared to a condominium in Munich. Because while prospective buyers can acquire a vacation property with a floor space of 143.1 square meters for 400,000 euros in Mallorca, it is just 35.9 square meters for this price in Munich. That goes out from an analysis of Immoscout24. Nevertheless, Mallorca occupies only...

Every second newly built apartment is already infested with mold during the construction period and should not actually be occupied at all - this is the opinion of the Association of Private Builders (VPB), which has published a guidebook on the subject of "mold in new buildings". The causes of mold growth are manifold. In addition to the ubiquitous mold spores, wetness during the construction phase can also...

Putting on a sweater, wrapping up a blanket and heating less - that's what two-thirds of Germans would be willing to do in the winter to help make Germany more independent of energy supplies from Russia. This is the result of a survey conducted by the forsa opinion research institute on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) for the DBU Environmental Monitor "Energiewende und...

A broker cannot demand payment of the commission if he looks after prospective buyers who purchase the property at a later date at a lower price from another broker. This was decided by the Regional Court of Darmstadt (LG Darmstadt; 29 O 326/19). In the case at hand, an owner had entrusted a real estate agent with the sale of his property by contract until January 31, 2019. In this...