After house purchase, mail from the appraisal committee for property values

Hello,

following situation.
My wife and I bought a house from her parents. We estimate about 40,000 below market value.
After signing the notary contract, we received mail some time later from the appraisal committee for property values.
They ask about pretty much everything you could ask about a house.
Square meters, age, heating system age, condition of the building, etc.
No one in my circle of acquaintances has heard of this or received such a letter.

Following concerns:
- Her parents sell the house without an energy certificate
We do not need this. We will renovate quite a bit of the house and know that it is not up to date in terms of energy standards.
Could there be any problems for her parents, since this is actually mandatory?

- It is a terraced house which is the only one with a dormer (added later). The dormer already existed before her parents bought the house. The dormer expansion was about 30 years ago.
There is no building permit or similar in my parents-in-law’s documents.
Could it be that there was none and that, in the worst case, we have to remove it?

Does anyone have an idea what this letter is for?
Is this a letter to question house purchases at low prices (keyword taxes)? Real estate transfer tax does not apply to us.

Thank you very much for any answers.

I guess this is the standard formal letter for the GES. Even if it does not apply to you, the data will first have to be checked by the tax office. Standard. The missing energy certificate should actually have been mentioned in the [Notarvertrag].

Following concerns:

All concerns are unfounded. The expert committee needs the data to classify your house into a category for the land market report.

Is this a letter to question house purchases at low prices (keyword taxes)? We do not incur real estate transfer taxes.

No, the tax office has nothing to do with this. I have also received such letters several times for my own properties.

The expert committee sets the standard land values for the individual residential areas every two years (see BORIS online). Of course, it can only do this if it receives accurate information from the buyer.

The lower purchase price is not questioned initially. However, in this regard, theoretically, the tax office could still send a notice. It may consider the difference between the purchase price and the value of the house as a partial gift and can accordingly demand gift tax. But this has nothing to do with the expert committee.
If it is really only 40,000 euros below market value, I honestly don’t believe that. That is still within the range where a price reduction could be justified by the imminent investment needs on or in the house.

- It is a terraced house, which is the only one with a dormer (added later). The dormer already existed before your parents' purchase. The conversion of the dormer is about 30 years old. There is no building permit or anything similar in the parents-in-law's documents. Could it happen that there was none and, in the worst case, we have to dismantle it?

An illegal structure never acquires customary law. The worst case is indeed dismantling.

Either you wait to see if the building authority contacts you because of it, or you take an active approach and submit a building application to legalize the dormer. Dismantling after so many years is rather disproportionate.

My neighbor has a huge shed (illegal structure) 9 m long placed exactly on the boundary. Somehow the building authority found out. Result: She had to submit a building application to legalize it. In addition to the costs of the permit, there was also a fee due to the regulatory offense. Ergo, no demolition.

Of course, you can always inspect the building file, then you will know if there was a building permit for the dormer. You do not have to state a reason for the inspection if you are the owner.

Either you wait to see if the building authority gets in touch about it.

Why should it suddenly get in touch now?