Risks before buying: contamination, flooding, leasehold, right of residence

Contaminated-site register

How contaminated and suspected sites are recorded is regulated by the states (sec. 11 BBodSchG). The register therefore has different names and sits with different offices, usually the lower soil-protection authority of the district or city. Fees follow state or municipal law and are not uniform nationwide. No entry means nothing recorded, not proven clean.

Flood and heavy rain at the address

The states publish flood hazard and flood risk maps for waters with significant risk; many municipalities add heavy-rain maps. Heavy rain can flood cellars far from rivers when a plot lies in a hollow.

Buying with a heritable building right

With an Erbbaurecht you buy not the land but the transferable and heritable right to have a building on it (sec. 1 ErbbauRG), and you pay ground rent to the landowner. Check remaining term, ground-rent adjustment, consent requirements for sale or mortgage, and what happens when the right ends.

Buying with a right of residence

A right of residence lets a person use a building or part of it as a home to the exclusion of the owner (sec. 1093 BGB). It sits in section II of the land register and survives a sale unless deleted, which lowers value and complicates financing.

If you inherit a property with someone still living in it, use the inheritance guide for heirs living abroad to organise occupancy records alongside the succession and tax documents.

Frequently asked questions