Does the seller pay for the surveying of the boundaries, or does the buyer?

Hello everyone,

our neighbors have now also started building and mentioned that their site manager said that the seller of the plots is responsible for the surveying of the boundaries, unless otherwise agreed in the contract. Now I have eagerly searched through our contract and found nothing stating that we have to bear this cost. So may I now hand over this task to the seller?

As a layperson, I would say if it is stated in the contract that the seller must do this, then a clear yes.

I assume that you are now the owner of the property according to the notarized purchase agreement, right? If that is the case, on what legal basis should the seller, who has nothing to do with the property after the notary appointment and the transfer of money, then pay for the survey.

I would like to know the legal basis. The construction manager apparently said that it is written somewhere that the proper initial surveying of the property boundary should be the seller's responsibility. In other words, the boundary stones should be in place. I have never heard of this before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. For all of us, only colored wooden stakes had been driven into the ground, which were not even correct.

Initial surveying yes, the exact measurements must be available to determine the value of a property. The fine staking also requires very precise measurements. After the construction, a survey is done again for the [Katasteramt], during which compliance with the building permit is also measured. You have to pay for this yourself; it cost us about 800.-

That is not correct. It is certainly common for the seller to cover the land surveying costs, but it can also be arranged differently. For example, 50/50 or everything by the buyer. However, one expects a note in the notary contract on how it is to be regulated. Please contact the notary, whom you as the buyer have also chosen. He should provide you with clarification. For the land register and cadastre, a surveyed, marked plot of land with its own parcel number is required. Example: Grundbuch Kleinmöllersdorf, Blatt 17, Flur 24/2. Karsten

: We did not choose the notary. He was appointed by the seller (a company). But that is irrelevant anyway. There is not a word about surveying in the contract. However, our property was of course precisely named with plot number and so on. In other words, it must have been surveyed. However, we did not have any boundary stones/points on our land, only the colorfully spray-painted wooden stakes. So it would be interesting to know who has to set these points initially.

Background information: The property has been in our possession for over a year, and our house is already nicely built on it. The house and garage have not yet been occupied. But I clearly see that as our responsibility.