Unlawful broker commission?

Hello dear forum members,

we have now decided to build ourselves instead of buying a property. We quickly found a plot of land and contacted the broker offering the plot. When drawing up a reservation agreement (because we want to have a soil survey done before purchase), suddenly a brokerage fee of €3570 was stated. However, on the broker's website, a brokerage fee of 3.57% is listed. When I asked about this, he said it was an error on the website and confused me with explanations that made little sense. Now the situation is that I unfortunately signed the reservation agreement. €800 reservation costs – these will be refunded or waived upon purchase if additional costs of over €10,000 are expected due to the soil survey. Now I have read that an uncustomary brokerage fee is considered immoral. In Saxony-Anhalt, 6% is customary. Since the plot costs €30,156, the stated brokerage fee represents about 11.5%. How should I best proceed now? Legally speaking, do I not have the right to claim back the excessive brokerage fee for 3 years? Best regards, Schmitti

The 6% commission is usually split between buyer and seller. So, it is 3% plus 19% VAT for each party, which brings us back to 3.57%. What a coincidence.

There are indeed interesting methods.

Yes, and that was far from everything today at the realtor... his colleague was supposed to convince me to build with them. I was told to quickly get fixed-price offers because prices will rise in at most 3 months... what a coincidence that in the next sentence he said: With us, you will get a fixed-price offer tomorrow." What was of course clever from the realtor, he now either gets the 800€ if I back out of the purchase or I pay the 3570€ when buying.

Get the appropriate legal advice (e.g. VBZ or similar), because I don't think he is allowed to charge reservation fees as a broker.

And prices always increase every 3 months... that's basically "normal". So saying that... blah blah...

Good evening,

in advance - I am not allowed to provide legal advice, as this is exclusively reserved for advisory professions in Germany. Lawyers and judgments will do that ;)

Now the situation is that I unfortunately signed the reservation agreement. €800 reservation costs - these will be refunded or waived upon purchase if, based on the soil report, additional costs of over €10,000 are to be expected.

**Reservation fees invoiced by brokers have already been rejected by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in 2010 in the majority of cases; apparently the ruling has not been widely known everywhere.

On the one hand, it is not even recognizable what service the prospective buyer actually receives in return for their payment. Ultimately, the broker commits at most “to doing nothing.”

The Federal Court of Justice summarizes this by stating that the broker or seller usually does not provide a significant waiving service through the promised reservation. Also, the prospective buyer generally cannot verify whether the broker actually adheres to their commitment.
Moreover, the seller cannot under any circumstances be forced to adhere to the broker's reservation. This means that even if the reservation fee is paid, it is by no means certain that the prospective buyer will actually receive the property.

For this reason, a reservation fee cannot be effectively agreed upon, at least within the framework of pre-formulated contractual terms.

Earlier, the BGH had already expressed concerns regarding the amount of the relevant reservation fee: if amounts of a considerable level (between 10 and 15% of the broker’s commission) are demanded here, an unreasonable pressure to purchase the property is exerted. In that case, a reservation fee can only be effectively agreed upon before a notary.

How should I proceed best now?

How about not paying at all? People who can talk can always be helped; especially if the articulate person is a lawyer ;)

**Source: RA Peter Ewald / RA Ulrich Scherer

Rhenish greetings

Thank you very much for your helpful answers. But now we are, of course, caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, we would of course like to have the property, and on the other hand, this reservation agreement states that the real estate agent will commission a soil expert on my behalf. So I would have to pay the soil expert either way. Our construction project is off to a rough start :(