General

In North Rhine-Westphalia, private real estate buyers who have purchased a house, condominium or plot of land this year or still want to buy can benefit from relief of up to 10,000 euros on the real estate transfer tax. The prerequisites for this are, however, that they use the property themselves, that it has cost/cost no more than 500,000 euros and that it is registered with the NRW.Bank...

Interested parties can apply for the German Timber Construction Award, which is endowed with a total of 20,000 euros, until Sunday, January 15, 2023 at deutscher-holzbaupreis.de/online_einreichung/. The prize is awarded to buildings and building components that are predominantly made of wood, wood-based materials and other renewable raw materials. Among others, architects, builders...

Architects and employees from planning offices and building developers can attend a seminar on the topic of "Recording and Visualizing Existing Buildings" on Wednesday, November 30, from 4 to 8 p.m., at the Fraunhofer Institute Center Stuttgart at Nobelstrasse 12. At the seminar, Building Information Modeling experts Günter Wenzel, Frank Sulzmann and Jörg...

Even if an owner cannot do anything about pests on her property, she must fight them and bear the costs. At least, this is what the Berlin Administrative Court (VG 14 L 1235/22) has now ruled. In the case at hand, an unknown person had provided rats with food and drinks on a property in Berlin-Reinickendorf. The rat infestation had been reported to the health department and...

The German Furniture Industry Association (VDM) sees growth potential for its activities in the North American market. "The market offers interesting growth opportunities for our manufacturers not only in stationary sales, but also in the online channel in particular," says Jan Kurth, Managing Director of the German Furniture Industry Associations (VDM/VHK). The reason for these assumptions offers...

Buying real estate is becoming increasingly difficult for many prospective buyers. At least, this is what the Immowelt Group assumes due to the key interest rate increase of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the associated expected increase in construction interest rates. If, for example, a family wanted to buy a house in Stuttgart, they could only take out a loan of 322,000 euros in the 3rd quarter of 2022, in order to be able to buy a house with a healthy...

Numerous cities and municipalities apparently want to beat climate change. According to the German Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Construction (BBSR), 286 project outlines from 235 municipalities were received for the federal program for adapting urban areas to climate change. The funding requested amounts to around 983 million euros. This means that the funding requested is around 5.5 times...

In view of the energy price crisis and the increased demand for stoves and fireplaces, the energy consulting service of the consumer center has compiled important aspects for dealing with them. For example, it points out that every fireplace must be approved by a chimney sweep. If this does not happen, according to the consumer center, there is an increased risk of flue gas poisoning and...

The Siegburg Local Court doubted the accuracy of the 2021 rent index in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, and instead determined a different net comparative rent for an apartment with the help of an expert. In the case at hand (ref. 123 C 60/21), a landlord wanted to raise the rent for his 78-square-meter maisonette apartment from around 560 euros (7.18 per square meter) to...

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...