Gas heating required in property purchase contract

Hello everyone,

my wife and I have been dealing with buying and building a house for some time now. I therefore registered here in the forum last year and have been a silent reader until now. But it's really great here, especially trimming dreams down to a realistic financial framework in numerous threads has helped us too.

Now the serious part begins for us. Today I received the draft purchase contract from the notary of the seller/real estate agent for a plot of land that we consider great.

Of course, we will go through it calmly and mark it with many question marks and try to clarify the questions with the agent and the notary. If we feel uncomfortable, we will also try to hire our own notary. But that is not the subject of this post. Already in the preliminary discussions, the agent told us about an obligation to connect to gas. The local utility company would only lay gas pipes in the ground during development if it is profitable for them. I can understand that well and gas heating systems are currently not uneconomical to operate.

Attached is the quote from the draft:

As an energy source for heating the buildings yet to be constructed, gas supply by the utility company is planned for the entire development area. The buyer therefore undertakes to connect to the gas lines to be laid by the utility company and to take gas accordingly for heating the building to be constructed. Furthermore, the buyer undertakes in the event of resale to obligate their legal successors accordingly and to obligate the legal successors to similarly obligate their legal successors.

I would have expected deadlines to be recorded here, such as "for 10 years from connection" or the like. Can I really be "forced" to take gas forever? Actually, I would have liked to build with an air-water heat pump and would now try to build the house to be air-water heat pump compatible and after 20 years – or however long the first heating system lasts – then switch to the heat pump. Especially since I expect progress in photovoltaics and storage options in the coming years.

How do you see this clause from the contract? On what grounds could the utility company sue me in 10-15 years? I only have a contract with the development company and not with the utility company. I imagine that everyone first builds with gas through the contract and the utility company is satisfied. If someone cancels gas in the future, wouldn't that fall under normal fluctuation for them, or am I missing something?

That is definitely a question I have already marked in bold for the notary.

Regards,
Tobi

That is meant to be permanent. And it means that you and your successors must always take gas, but what they are not allowed to do is to prescribe to you that it must be Stadtwerkegas. If you want to buy from eon or from gas24.de, that must be possible,

That's interesting. I can hardly imagine that something like that is legal(?)

Have the connection installed, get a gas burner for the kitchen, and otherwise build yourself a passive house! Then you will only pay the basic fee, the operating costs for cooking are hardly more than the electricity for an induction cooktop even when calculated by yourself.

Gas is more economical, we have an air heat pump and only stress

Well, I also doubt that it will last forever. But is right, gas is trouble-free and (currently) economical. So I wouldn't let that spoil the property. If everything else fits, do it and clarify it afterwards if necessary.