Floor plan of a house or living area calculation wrong?

Hello everyone,

we are interested in purchasing an existing property, a house built in 2021 by a well-known prefabricated house manufacturer. We are quite far along in the negotiations; the price has even been agreed upon. Now we see discrepancies in the living area. On paper: Manufacturer's flyer: 134m2 floor area; Purchase brochure: approx. 130m2; Floor plan: for the attic (with sloping ceilings) each room has 2 area measurements. I assume floor area and, considering the sloping ceilings, the (smaller) living area measurement according to the Wohnflächenverordnung (WoFIV). Living area calculation according to WoFIV for each room and in total. The m2 measurements correspond to the smaller figures on the floor plan. So far so good. But: 1. The floor plan specifies knee wall height 1.5m, roof pitch 38 degrees. 2. In fact, the knee wall is 1m. They said - Sorry, the architect forgot to change it where the building permit only allowed 1m knee wall and corresponding roof pitch. OK, so far so good. We are interested in the property, we first viewed it, found it acceptable – and only then saw the papers. 3. We measured on site ourselves, wanted to see at what distance from the knee wall the roof slope reaches 2m height. Result – at a distance of 1.6m. The knee wall is, by the way, effectively only 90cm due to insulation, floor covering, etc. 4. Then at home, we calculated for a room with a floor area of 4x3.7m = 14.8 m2. It turns out, with a roof pitch of about 32 degrees (calculated, unfortunately not measured), and calculation according to WoFIV, where below 1m knee wall counts as nothing, 1-2m counts as 50% – we come to only about 11.6m2 living area instead of the stated 13.27m2, thus over 7% difference. We hardly made such a large measurement error with the measuring tape. Question: Is the Building Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiegesetz) invalidating our calculations, or should the whole thing be looked at more closely according to the Building Energy Act? Should a new living area calculation be requested? Thank you

Existing property

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Question: are our calculations according to the Building Energy Act wrong, or should the whole thing be looked at more closely according to the Building Energy Act? Is a new living space calculation required? Thanks

Completely irrelevant! Bought as seen. If an exposé of a (young) existing property includes the original offer of the house, any color photos, sample photos, or earlier flyers to possibly be more interesting or appealing, that is perfectly legitimate but not the basis of the sale. Make your own assessment of the house, if necessary enter with an expert, but do not compare it with anything else unless it concerns your personal listing. The living space is usually only offered as approximate values because a purchase offer is not regulated on the market by living space sqm like in rentals. Ultimately, it only serves as a personal comparison, but not as the value of the house. Overall, what counts is what you actually have and not what was stated in a flyer back then, as houses were already individually adapted to their builders even in 2021.

So, the sellers wanted a house three years ago that is listed as 134 sqm in the brochure. Their development plan only allowed it with half a meter less knee wall height and 6° less roof pitch, and they still wanted it then. So the question is really only whether this continued desire also applies to you. That the brochure values can no longer apply with this double reduction is of course not due to the calculation standard. What "values" it actually has will not be correct in the brochure (which is not implemented 1:1 here), but will be in the building file. Your bank will then base itself on these values to decide whether to agree with the price adequacy assessment. For you, this decision should be viewed much more loosely. After all, you ultimately live in rooms, not square meters. Report truthfully to the bank from the building file, and make the decision for yourselves "with your heart". If it feels like "your" house, then do not measure it by ten or twelve square meters "less than in the brochure".

Thank you! Yes, the bank is also problematic then, these [Gebäudeenergiegesetz] incorrect values were stated in the official plans/files that the bank also wants… Not that in the end the bank is "deceived"...

Yes, the bank is also problematic then, these Gebäudeenergiegesetz false values were given in the official plans/files that the bank also wants…
You don’t want to "deceive" the bank in the end…

I could swear that instead of "Gebäudeenergiegesetz" it said "Gebäudeenergiegesetz(ebenen)" before the page refresh. Probably an AI (artificial impertinence) is up to mischief here.

The bank is not being deceived: you inform the bank properly that the values initially communicated turned out to be incorrect and that the correct ones, to be obtained from the construction file, are approximately xy lower. The bank will then adjust its financing commitment accordingly. That means you must expect to agree to the previously discussed price for the unexpectedly smaller property only subject to your bank’s approval. The sellers should understand that this would equally apply to other interested parties.

In this sense, I wish you good luck in purchasing a nominally somewhat smaller but the right house for you!

Not that you "deceive" the bank in the end...

The bank does not care about the ID in the 2021 house at all. The house is green and can go into a green covered bond or is reported in the annual report as part of green financing. Yes, tell the bank what is going on and that's it.