General

In the study "Hallo Nachbar*in - Die große Schweizer Nachbarschaftsstudie" (Hello Neighbor*in - The Great Swiss Neighborhood Study), the Swiss have investigated how neighborhoods function in Switzerland and what types of neighborhoods exist. Based on an empirical representative quantitative survey and a qualitative study, the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute concludes that "Neighborhood in Switzerland...

A gas heater for an apartment represents a one-time need for which the job center must pay. This was the decision of the Regional Social Court (LSG) Essen (L 19 AS 1736/21). In the case in question, a tenant had filed a lawsuit because the gas heater in her apartment had broken down after almost 50 years. However, the tenancy agreement with the landlady stipulated that the rented property did not include the...

How to make the balcony cozy with lighting, illuminates the portal home24.de. When buying lighting owners and tenants should make sure that it withstands various weather conditions. Therefore, higher protection classes against dirt and moisture must be selected. According to the portal, lamps with the IP23 protection class are suitable for use...

Apartments with 1.5 rooms for sale and rent remain in demand. This is the finding of the IW Cube Compact Living Report 2022. Purchase prices for these so-called "compact living properties" rose by 12.2 percent from 2020 to 2021, adjusted for quality. Rents increased by 2.5 percent over the same period, adjusted for quality. Purchase prices for 1.5-room apartments...

Researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed a new way of drying damp walls due to water damage. FastDry®" is a rectangular insulation board that is attached to the damp wall after water damage. In the process, the resulting water vapor passes through the insulation board with integrated heating wire. According to the...

Owners or tenants who do not have space for a solar system on the roof can instead provide their balcony or terrace with a so-called plug solar device. This is now pointed out by the energy advisory service of the consumer center. With these plug solar devices it concerns approximately 1,00 x 1,70 meters large modules with an achievement of approximately 300 Watts. Around such a...

Two common and over 100-year-old ash trees are living up to their name in the town of Andernach. Because of them, an owner may not build a single-family house on his adjacent property. This was recently decided by the Administrative Court of Koblenz (1 K 1047/21.KO). Reason for it is that the common ash trees stand under nature monument protection. From the Koblenz Administrative Court it says: "The...

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...