General Questions (Heritable Building Rights)

Of course, one can also purchase a right, not just a tangible object. But even there it remains clear who you are in the game. Last but not least, all of this does not take place in a dingy dive behind the station, but at the notary's office.

Nope, no leasehold agreement, but a purchase agreement for a heritable building right. Erbpacht is colloquial.

Now let me be pedantic. 1. There is a heritable building rights contract. This establishes the heritable building right. In this contract, the rights and obligations of the heritable building right holder as well as the heritable building rights grantor are specified (e.g. amount + indexation of the lease, duration of the lease agreement (usually 99 years for residential buildings), reversion, compensation upon expiry of the heritable building right, type of use of the heritable building right). 2. A notarized purchase agreement is concluded (for the heritable building right) and the heritable building rights contract is taken over as the heritable building right holder. Thus, we have named both transactions once.

I live in an area with a high proportion of leasehold land. However, this is often not mentioned in the listings and, if at all, can only be recognized by the lower price. Dear OP, if your only concern is not to buy a leasehold property, then you will have to ask and possibly get an excerpt from the land register. But if you want to buy something, it will also involve work and effort – after all, it's about a few euros. What fear do you have of expropriation? Because of things like bypasses, airports, open-cast mining, or if you can't pay? I don't think there will be any difference.

Good day,

I hope I have reached the right subforum

I am planning to build a house on my own plot of land in Hesse sometime in the future.

I often encounter the same problem:

I do not want to acquire a leasehold (heritable building right). The land should belong to me "completely."
Some listings also mention that it is a leasehold.

Now my specific questions:

Can a purchased plot of land that was NOT bought through a leasehold be expropriated?

How can one recognize that it might be a leasehold, aside from it being explicitly mentioned in the exposé? I do not want to waste valuable time with inquiries only to find out that, although not literally mentioned, there is some kind of "code" or other information in the listing that is considered a leasehold designation among professionals and therefore "actually" indicates it.

How is property law generally in Germany? Does it vary from federal state to federal state or is it uniform?
Can one generally say that property rights in Germany are better/worse than, for example, in neighboring countries like Austria, Switzerland, France...?

And the most important question: how can I tell that the purchased plot of land belongs to me and only me?

Best regards

alwayssearchin

I can understand that you do not want to enter into a leasehold, but especially in high-price areas it makes building affordable.

Hello

I would like to thank you in advance for the answers.

So far, I have understood that it can basically be recognized by the price that it is a leasehold. However, I have to say especially in metropolitan areas that even for leasehold a price is demanded that, 50 km further away, would almost pass as a land price.

Since there were some follow-up questions, I would like to answer them so that this topic can be finally processed for me:

What fear do you have of expropriation? Because of things like bypasses, airports, open-cast mining, or if you can’t pay? I don’t believe there will be any difference.

Well, I hope that with a (in my opinion) secure job it will be possible for me to manage the costs over several decades. Of course, I would not rush into anything anywhere without equity... I believe this topic should (hopefully) be out of the question at least from this aspect.

For me, it is mainly about the possibility that once everything is paid off and settled, the state comes along and wants to build a road straight through my garden or expropriate another plot for possible construction, whereby the profit ends up solely with the construction company and it is not really a forced expropriation in the true sense; namely in the interest of the public good (which of course would also be annoying).

Precisely in this regard, and with regard to the question about different neighboring countries, it is important for me to find out where, for example, an expropriation - by whichever authority - is SIGNIFICANTLY harder to enforce.

Or whether in neighboring countries there are significantly better rights regarding ownership below the earth’s crust than in Germany. However, I am not an expert on this and that is why I have basically asked about property rights within the neighboring countries.

Best regards

alwayssearchin

What matters to me above all is that once everything is paid off and settled, the state comes along and says it has to lay a road right through my garden or expropriate another piece of land for possible construction, where the profit merely ends up with the construction company and is not really a compulsory expropriation; namely in the sense of the common good (which of course would also be annoying).

You cannot protect yourself from that, in no country in the world. Because somewhere the welfare of all outweighs your personal welfare. Should the very unlikely case occur that the state needs your property, you will be financially compensated. But no one will take land from you to build houses there. If anything, then a highway or something similar.

As I said, all very, very unlikely.

But keep in mind, in rural areas a new road, power line, or whatever is more likely to be built than in a city. So simply don't buy the hermit's plot in the middle of nowhere, but a "normal" plot within a city and you are safe.