Expert: For which construction phases is it urgently necessary?

: Yes, ownership of, for example, the property initially remains with the BT, but as far as I understand, this is also common practice. However, all payments and values are secured by the notary through a priority notice of conveyance and guarantees. At least that is the explanation given by the contract auditor, the bank (which wouldn't lend money without security), and the notary.

Great, thank you. If this has already proven itself, it is a good point of reference.

@11ant I don’t quite understand your assessment yet. Neighbors had the contract reviewed, [...] legally it was clean.

Legally it may be unobjectionable, but it’s not logical:

So you pay your installments, but the ownership remains with the developer until handover? Where is the security for the money paid?

That’s exactly how I see it too.

Yes, ownership of, for example, the plot initially remains with the developer,

That’s exactly where the nonsense comes in: when you buy from a developer, you buy an inseparable bundle of land and house, namely a developed plot. Compared to a car, you could call the house a used property with zero kilometers. The fact that it is common today to start building “built to order” only after the sale (and thus the plot is still untouched at the notarization appointment) does not legally change the nature of the developer business, which usually does not involve making payments corresponding to construction progress. From a consumer perspective, almost everything about your contract structure may be practically fine, but it remains a hybrid of two very different relationships, namely with a developer and a general contractor combined in one. And precisely for that reason, the tax authorities rightly consider it a developer contract, even in cases where the developer-general contractor splits into two straw sister companies. As far as I can judge as a non-lawyer, it is probably perfectly legal and without penalty – but as a merchant I find it almost unsurpassably gray, and such a construct probably wouldn’t come about if a full merchant were in the position of the “consumer party.”

However, all payments and values are secured by the notary through priority notice of conveyance and guarantees.

Yes, that way it still works – but probably quite intensive in notary fees. At the latest at that point I would drop out – but no one has to take me as an example here.

So we bought an apartment from the developer in a residential complex that is currently still under construction. Just as described by , we make installment payments according to the construction progress and are registered in the land register with a priority notice of conveyance.

Although we do not have house rights on the construction site, we were able to agree with the developer, more precisely with the site manager of the developer, that our expert can inspect certain trades. This is absolutely in the developer's interest anyway, since he is still under warranty and we can ensure with our expert, whom we pay ourselves, that his subcontractors are working correctly.

I would try to explore in a friendly phone call with the site manager of your developer whether you are allowed to go onto the construction site with your expert. If he reacts negatively, you can still argue that you somehow have to be able to verify the alleged construction progress stated in the partial invoices.

Make sure someone also checks the composite sealing in the bathrooms (the tiler does this before the tiles are applied). According to our expert, this is the most important source of errors in the bathrooms.