General

Early detection and professional handling of construction defects is of great importance for private builders in order to protect their rights and prevent financial losses. The Verband Privater Bauherren (vpb) points this out, stating that building owners have the opportunity to inform those responsible about construction defects and officially document them with a notice of defects. A timely...

The German Facility Management Association (gefma) awarded prizes to university graduates for their theses at the end of 2023. Laura Beck from the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Wolfenbüttel received the main prize for her master's thesis on Building Information Modeling (BIM) in facility management ("BIM@FM - Analysis of the requirements for BIM data for...

If a house is sold with a covered terrace and rainwater penetrates through the terrace roof, this constitutes a material defect. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) (AZ: V ZR 43/23). The BGH is of the opinion that this is not just a symptom, but that the leakage of the patio roof itself constitutes the defect. The seller acts fraudulently if he does not inform the buyer about the...

How can the home be optimized by simple means? The portal "schoener-wohnen.de" has found answers to this question. For example, owners and tenants can attach new knobs to furniture, refill the washing-up liquid in a nicer bottle or add accents with houseplants. Tablecloths can also make a room look brighter, more elegant or more cheerful....

The mood in the German skilled crafts sector is fragile. This is emphasized by Jörg Dittrich, President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH). Taxes, duties and documentation requirements are leading to a record-breaking burden on businesses. Investments and loans are falling at a time when they should actually be rising. "The future prospects will...

The Federation of the German Construction Industry wants to attract civil engineers and is promoting the profession on the website "werde-bauigenieur.de". According to the main association, civil engineers play a central role in the design and development of the modern world. They are responsible for the planning and construction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, rail networks,...

People with a regular income may also be able to claim social benefits for high heating costs. On the one hand, this assistance is possible if an independent contract has been concluded with a gas supplier. On the other hand, they can also be applied for if the costs are settled with the landlord through the utility bill. The consumer advice center points this out...

The crosses in public buildings in Bavaria may remain hanging. This was decided by the Federal Administrative Court (AZ: BVerwG10 C 3.22). This means that the Free State of Bavaria is not obliged to remove the crosses displayed in its official buildings in accordance with the cross decree. The crosses are considered an expression of Bavaria's historical and cultural character. The plaintiffs, ideological communities,...

How do you modernize an apartment building from the 1920s? This is shown in a series of pictures on the "schoener-wohnen.de" portal. The particular challenge for the architect during the modernization was that the four-storey apartment building on a slope had no ground-level access to the garden, which the architect solved with a trick: a staircase now leads to the house...

In 2022, real estate transactions in Germany fell by 16 percent compared to the previous year. This corresponds to 866,000 transactions. This is according to the Real Estate Market Report Germany 2023, published today by the Working Group of the Higher Expert Committees, Central Offices and Expert Committees together with the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR)....