The German Association for the Protection of Home Builders (BSB) criticizes the fact that consumers have to take on huge debts to build a house and that soon only the rich will be able to afford it. Some consumers have already postponed their plans indefinitely or do not want to realize them at all. The BSB therefore welcomes the real estate transfer tax reform announced by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner....

Renate Sachse recently received the €10,000 Bertha Benz Prize from the Daimler and Benz Foundation for her dissertation "Variational Motion Design for Adaptive Structures" (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Stuttgart). In her dissertation, she presents a mathematical method that can be used not only by those responsible in the construction industry, but also...

In Düsseldorf, a woman was ordered by the district court to remove a wooden cross around seven meters high from her garden. The woman's neighbor had filed a lawsuit in the district court because she felt considerably disturbed by the cross and wanted it removed. She had already won her case there, but the woman appealed against the ruling. However, now...

Solid wood furniture needs the right care to keep it looking good for a long time. The Initiative Pro Massivholz points this out. Depending on the furniture, either oil, varnish or wax can be used to protect the surface. If owners are not sure which surface protection is the right one, they should ask the manufacturer. Because, according to the Initiative Pro Massivholz, "the wrong...

How do people in Germany want to live in old age? Ipos GmbH investigated this question on behalf of "Apotheken Umschau". The focus was on the so-called baby boomers, i.e. respondents between the ages of 50 and 64. The result was that over half of those surveyed (53 percent) could imagine living in a multi-generational house in old age. Also...

The Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB) is promoting barrier-reduction measures with its "Age-Appropriate Conversion" program. To this end, it is providing private building owners and tenants with 75 million euros via KfW. In addition to older people and people with limited mobility, families with children can also take advantage of the funding.

Together with citizens in 338 cities and municipalities, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has submitted applications for a filter obligation for new wood-burning stoves and an obligation to retrofit old wood-burning stoves. Particularly in cities such as Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Bonn and Freiburg, DUH criticizes the excessive fine dust pollution caused by wood firing. Due to the war in Ukraine, more and more people are currently...

Landlords may not simply pass on the costs of smoke detectors to their tenants via the service charge bill. This is because the costs are not apportionable. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (VIII ZR 379/20). In this case, a landlord installed smoke alarms and commissioned a company to carry out maintenance. She informed her tenant of the expected costs and...

Owners want more clarity and transparency with regard to their annual statements of accounts from homeowners' associations. This is the result of an online survey conducted by the association "Wohnen im Eigentum" (WiE). According to WiE, only half of those surveyed found the annual statements to be structured and laid out in an understandable and comprehensible way and only 42% found them to be...

According to Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB), project developers in particular are currently facing major challenges. This is due to price increases, delivery bottlenecks, construction delays and higher financing costs. "We are noticing a clear reluctance on the part of developers, with almost a third of project developments already being postponed," says Peter Axmann, Head of Real Estate Clients at...