Investigation of heating costs before property acquisition?, Check of quote

Hello everyone and I wish you all a Happy New Year.

After much consideration, we are now about to buy a house.

What still worries us greatly is the oil heating system which is supposed to heat the approximately 235 m2 house completely with underfloor heating.
How can I determine the expected heating costs before the purchase?
I have read about so-called energy consultants.
What do I have to tell them so that they can calculate the costs for me, or is this only possible if they inspect the property on site to create an accurate calculation?

Furthermore, we still have the following questions:

- Would you always bring in an expert even if the house appears to be in good dry condition?
- Would you also have a lawyer review the purchase contract despite having a real estate agent?

Thank you for your help
Regards, Simon

...What still causes us great concern is the oil heating system that is supposed to heat the approximately 235 m2 house completely equipped with underfloor heating. How can I determine the expected heating costs [ /B] before the purchase?

It is very sensible and quite justified to ask the question [B]in advance! Hardly verifiable for laypersons, as it has a significant impact on the purchase price and subsequent consumption costs!

...I have read about so-called energy consultants?

A fundamentally unprotected professional title! The EC should at least be a building services planner and, if possible, also a construction engineer at the same time!

..
-Would you also have a lawyer review the contract when buying, despite having a real estate agent?

What legal security does a real estate agent offer? ;-)

Regards

What legal security does a broker provide? ;-)

best regards.

The question can be expanded... what service does a broker offer...? :D

Didn't you request an energy certificate for the building? Are there no consumption values from the past, or is it a new property? Appraiser: Yes, always Lawyer: Yes, in the case of a new building that still has to be constructed. For an existing property, the notary, whom you need anyway, is usually sufficient to describe the legal side effects of your actions. But there are those and those... some probably just read it out loud :D With this total amount, two hours with the legal quibbler I trust would definitely be well spent. We really don't need to talk about the appraiser! Everybody takes a used car worth 10k euros to the lift, but buying a house "as seen"? Not really. Just plan these costs in and don't stretch your budget to the limit. That is money well spent. Take someone with practical experience, maybe an active architect or similar - plus pictures from the construction phase and someone on the seller’s side who can also answer technical questions. I don’t mean the adjective-laden, rose-colored seller babble of the real estate agent.

First of all, thank you for your answers. I have meanwhile tried to educate myself a bit on the topic of heating. The previous owner says he gets by with 3000 liters of heating oil and 3 steer wood (there is also a tiled stove) per heating period. Is that roughly realistic? It is a Buderus heating system where the boiler was replaced in 2008. According to my calculation, it now makes little sense to buy the house with the existing oil heating and then throw it out even though it is quite new, and instead install an expensive pellet heating system. I think it only makes sense to consider this when the oil heating breaks down, right? (I found out that you save about 12,000 euros in 20 years with pellets compared to oil if you install both systems completely new). Otherwise, I am buying two heating systems since the oil heating is already present. What do you think about these considerations? Does every house have to have an energy certificate and if not, is it natural that I as the buyer have to cover the costs for it? Thanks for your further help. Regards Simon

The previous owner says he gets by with 3000 L of heating oil and 3 steers of wood (there is also a tiled stove) per heating period. Is that roughly realistic?

Hello Eisvogel,

I get by with one tank fill-up per month for my car – is that realistic?
How much oil or wood you need doesn’t depend (only) on the house, but on your heating behavior.
Is 20°C in the apartment enough for you in winter, or do you need 25°C?
Does the heating run all day/night or do you turn it down at night? Is someone home during the day or is the heating also turned down then?
What about hot water? How much do you need? Do you have a bathtub? How often will you bathe?
In part, you can estimate your heating behavior from the past – if you needed at least 25°C in your rented apartment, then you can assume you will also heat the house that much.
Other things are not predictable – e.g. if you had a tiny bathroom and now will have a cozy bathroom with a bathtub – how often will you bathe?
Will you really use the tiled stove continuously? Clean it, chop wood, ...? What does the wood cost you?

In my opinion, heating costs can be estimated roughly, but to get truly reliable numbers you need to have lived for a few years in a comparable property (similar size and similar features (e.g. wood-burning stove, bathtub)).
And you cannot infer your own behavior at all from other people’s behavior...

Regards
Micha :cool: