Sell apartments or keep them?

But aside from the whole ownership issue: Does it make more sense to carry out a partial sale to increase equity or rather to cover part of the financing with rental income? What are the respective advantages and disadvantages?

The biggest advantage I see if we keep the houses is simply that the houses pay off part of the loan, but the underlying property remains. On the other hand, I am of course incurring a relatively large amount of debt even though I own several hundred thousand euros in underlying property. Somehow also stupid...

Advantage of selling: Increase your equity share = lower debt and possibly better conditions, lower burden
Disadvantage of selling: What is gone is gone. In addition, you would have a second, possibly external, party in the owners' community who suddenly wants to have a say (OK - would probably always be outvoted within the family). Also, you would have to see how to deal with the reserves (maintenance reserves or whatever they are called).

Advantage of keeping: see above, opposite of disadvantages + ongoing rental income
Disadvantage: Taxation of rental income (from this taxed income, you would possibly make special repayments); higher burden due to your own mortgage installment because of the higher loan share (private loan costs cannot be offset against taxes - to my knowledge)

Before making a decision, you should definitely consult the tax advisor. (So you don’t suddenly have to pay gift tax or similar retroactively.)

From a gift tax law perspective, everything is clarified. At least somewhat :)

Approximately €60,000 in reserves are currently available in the house accounts, and the houses are debt-free or unencumbered. Furthermore, reserves are deposited monthly into a savings account. Currently €700 per month.

Currently, approximately €60,000 are available in reserves in the house accounts, and the houses are debt-free or unencumbered. Furthermore, reserves are deposited monthly into a savings account. Currently €700 per month.

It should only be a note on where potential pitfalls might lie (you don’t need to mention numbers here in my opinion, as they are not relevant to the problem and are "private matters"). However, you probably know more about landlords than I do.

How much are your rental incomes minus all reserves, taxes, etc.?

It was meant only as a hint where potential stumbling blocks might lurk (you don't have to mention numbers here in my opinion, as they are not relevant to the problem and are "private"). However, you probably know more about "landlords" than I do.

Ok, now I have mentioned them, but I don't need to go into further detail. I just wanted to inform you that there are no debts on the houses (which is quite important) and that the houses have been extensively (energetically) renovated in recent years. In the last 10 years, virtually no money has been "taken out" of the houses, but exclusively invested.

I only slipped into the role of landlord about a year ago after the death of my (other) uncle. Since then, however, I have fully taken over and prepare the tax returns and take care of everything on behalf of the community of heirs. Somehow, it even makes fun.

How high are your rental income after deducting all reserves, taxes, etc.?

Since I haven't been involved for very long (see above), I would estimate the current net income for myself at around €10,000. In the future, somewhat more and in the long term (after the elimination of the two usufruct rights, which hopefully will take a very long time), of course significantly more. However, this is difficult to include in financing. That is my dilemma in a way: you know you own a considerable fortune, but at the current moment (when you want to build) you have almost nothing. That somehow makes things complicated for me. But somehow it is (still) too contradictory for me to go into debt up to my ears with this background. With the above budget and existing equity, we are talking about a loan volume of around €400,000. That is naturally one or two orders of magnitude too much for our income.

Regards