Estate agent Leipzig

Whoever instructs the estate agent owes the commission. When a private individual buys a flat or a detached house, an additional rule applies: if the agent charges both sides, the fee must be equal on both sides, otherwise both contracts are void (Section 656c German Civil Code, BGB). Where only the seller gave the instruction, the buyer owes at most half, and only once the seller has demonstrably paid their share (Section 656d BGB). Agency agreements for flats and detached houses require text form (Section 656a BGB). These sharing rules do not apply to plots of land or apartment buildings.

Real estate transfer tax, notary fees and land registry fees. In Saxony, the real estate transfer tax has been 5.5 percent of the purchase price since 1 January 2023; fixtures separately itemised in the purchase contract, such as a fitted kitchen or a sauna, are not included. Notary and land registry fees are charged under the German Court and Notary Fees Act (GNotKG), on fixed fee schedules with no room for negotiation. If an estate agent's commission is also due, budget for that as well. Banks generally expect you to cover these items from your own funds.

Once ten years have passed between acquisition and sale, any gain on a privately held property is tax-free (Section 23(1) German Income Tax Act). What counts are the dates of the two notarised deeds, not handover or the land registry entry. Before that period ends, a sale is still tax-free if you have lived in the property yourself since acquisition, or in the year of sale and the two calendar years before it. For inherited properties, the original owner's acquisition date applies, so the ten-year period has often long since passed.

As a rule, the energy performance certificate is the only document required by law; it must be shown unprompted at the latest at the viewing, and its key figures already belong in the listing. Buyers and their banks will ask for everything else: a land registry extract, cadastral map, living-space calculation, floor plans, building file, and, for flats, additionally the declaration of division, management plan, record of resolutions, and the minutes of the last three owners' meetings. Information from the register of land charges and the register of contaminated sites is issued by the relevant authority in Leipzig, depending on the location either the city administration or the district office. We know from the 9 properties we have sold in Leipzig which papers tend to be missing.

Until three conditions are met: the priority notice of conveyance is registered, the banks have issued releases for any existing land charges, and the municipality has waived its statutory right of first refusal. Under Section 28(2) of the German Building Code (BauGB), it has three months to do so, though in practice the certificate of non-exercise usually arrives sooner. Only then does the notary declare the purchase price due. The buyer becomes owner on registration in the land register, which requires the tax office's certificate of no objection (Section 22 German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act).

Many rules do not apply to the whole town but only to individual areas. Leipzig is made up of districts including Zentrum-Nord, Eutritzsch und Reudnitz-Thonberg, and the city or municipal authority can tell you whether a preservation statute (Section 172 German Building Code) or a formally designated redevelopment area applies there. Within a redevelopment area, the purchase contract may require official approval (Section 144 German Building Code), and a compensation payment may fall due once redevelopment is complete (Section 154 German Building Code). In Saxony, listed-building protection applies by operation of law, even without an entry in the heritage register (Section 10(1) sentence 2 Saxon Heritage Protection Act).