KfW 153 Loan: Is a partial invoice considered the "start of the construction"?

Good morning!

Our starting situation:
We have been working with our developer on the house planning for about 6 months, and the building application has now also been submitted, as well as the thermal bridge certificate issued.
It is understandable that we have now received the first partial invoice of over €10k for this first phase.
Unfortunately, financing is not yet secured, as the plot division is taking much, much longer than planned. We hope that this will be completed within the next 4 - 6 weeks.
The plot serves as collateral for the loan both at the bank and at the KfW bank, and we have to wait until the paperwork with the notary is completed and the plot legally belongs to us on paper. Then our broker at Interhyp can apply for the loans.

Questions:
1.) As mentioned, the KfW application 153 has not yet been submitted, and if we now pay the invoice from the developer, we might lose the claim to the KfW 153 loan because the payment of the invoice would be considered the "start of construction"?
2.) As I understand it, the loan is disbursed gradually upon submission of invoices. If we pay this first partial invoice now, it would be BEFORE the financing, and I don’t know if I can then withdraw the money retroactively from the loan for that?

Best regards

That will not be a construction cost calculation, but a planning calculation, right? Don’t forget the Kombi with the KfW 431,...

Exactly, it is an invoice only for the planning. Everything related to craftsmen, materials, etc. is not yet an issue.

Then you have given yourself the answer. However, the KfW also has a very friendly hotline. If you do not want to read the information sheets yourself,...

Take a look under "Questions and Answers" on the KfW page about the 153.

"When can I start construction work?
You can start your construction work after receiving the loan approval.

At your own risk, you can start construction work as soon as you have submitted the loan application to your financing partner.

A loan application in this sense also includes an informal application or a documented financing discussion including KfW funding with your financing partner regarding the planned project.

The formal application must then be submitted to us within 3 months after the start of the project. If the application is submitted after the 3-month deadline, funding is possible if the project is less than 50% completed (construction progress less than 50%, in the case of first purchase the purchase payment less than 50%)."

I now assume that you have documented this somewhere with your financier and integrated the KfW matter. Then everything should be fine.

//edit: Unfortunately, I cannot answer your question about paying afterwards. But isn’t it usually the case that you first have to use your own equity before the bank pays you anything? So you would have to pay the 10,000 € from your own money anyway, whether financing is involved or not. At least, that’s what I have read several times before.

The start of a project is considered to be the commencement of construction work on site. Planning and consulting services as well as the conclusion of supply and service contracts are not considered the start of a project.

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