Work Scheme

ESTATE-SERVICE24 provides a full range of services for the acquisition of commercial and residential real estate in Germany and provides comprehensive support for business registration and financial support, etc.

The scheme we work on:

- We select a property according to search criteria across Germany;

- We arrange a visit to the property;

- We provide full legal and linguistic support;

- We open a private account with a German bank;

- We register financing (if required);

- We register a legal entity – GmbH (if required);

- We open the account of the legal entity with a German bank (if required).

The company’s experts will accompany you at all stages of preparation of documents for real estate transactions. Upon request, we can provide experienced attorneys to verify the transaction legal purity (due diligence) and tax advisors for further successful use of the acquired property.

Work Scheme Detailed Description

1) Request

Fill out the request form on our website. Enter the desired parameters of commercial property: a property type (hotel, apartment house, office or shopping mall, street retail, etc.), a location, your budget and contact details (full name, e-mail, phone number and time convenient for communication). Our staff will contact you to refine your search criteria.

2) Property Select

We will process your request and provide relevant options in s short time.

Please note that when requesting for the commercial real estate, initially we can only provide a summary of the investment object.

To provide full information, we need to receive the following documents from you:

- An agreement to pay brokerage fees (3 – 5% + VAT) signed on your part with a copy of a document certifying the identity of a potential buyer or copies of extracts from the companies’ register (in the case of the property acquisition by the legal entity).

Upon receipt of the above documents, we will send you the detailed information on the property, including the exact address and photographs.

In case of the property purchase intention, we will arrange its visiting and meeting with an owner or their representative.

- To organize meetings and negotiations with the owner of the property you have to provide the bank reference/ statement of account, which serves as proof of the seriousness of your intentions in the commercial real estate purchase.

3) Property Visit

ESTATE-SERVICE24 negotiates specific dates of your visit to inspect the property with property owners. Upon arrival, we will accompany you during pre-scheduled appointments with the owners; we offer language and support services.

Upon your positive decision on the purchase of the property, our services include the preparation of documents for the transaction.

4) Preparation of documents for real estate transactions

We require the following documents from the buyer: a passport copy, a copy of a certificate of residence registration.

After receiving all the necessary information from you, a German notary will prepare the purchase contract project in the German language and we will forward it to you electronically for review. At your request, we can translate the document into your native language or you can do it in your country of residence. After your and seller’s confirmation of the draft contract, the notary will appoint the date to sign the purchase contract. The notary acts as an independent advisor of both parties on issues of legal purity of the transaction. According to German law, the notary’s fee is about 2% of the transaction amount.

5) Purchase Registration

After agreeing the draft contract terms and conditions, on a pre-specified date, the buyer and the seller sign the contract of sale in the presence of the notary. The notary in writing notifies a local court (Amtsgericht), a tax office, a city authorities, a utilities company servicing the property and a bank (in case of a mortgage) on the change of the property owner. Upon positive decisions of the above bodies, the notary notifies the buyer by fax or e-mail that the buyer shall transfer the property price according to the contract of sale for a pre-specified period of time to the bank account (depending on the situation – to the notary or seller’s account or a trust account with the bank, where the previous owner might have received the mortgage).

Upon receipt of 100% of the property value, the buyer is registered in the land register of the district court (Grundbuch) and the property is blocked by the court to exclude the possibility of double sell (the court’s invoice for the provisional registration is paid in advance). The notary sends the sale contract to the tax office and based on the property value the acquisition tax is assessed. After payment of the acquisition tax (ranging from 3.5 to 6.5% depending on the federal state), the tax office sends the document on the acceptance of registration of the property new owner with the court.

Current real estate transfer Tax in Federal States:

Baden-Württemberg: 5%

Bayern: 3.5%

Berlin: 6.0%

Brandenburg: 6.5%

Bremen: 5%

Hamburg: 4.5%

Hessen: 6%

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: 5%

Niedersachsen: 5%

Nordrhein-Westfalen: 6.5%

Rheinland-Pfalz: 5%

Saarland: 6.5%

Sachsen: 3.5%

Sachsen-Anhalt: 5%

Schleswig-Holstein: 6.5%

Thüringen: 6, 5% 

The notary sends the consent of the Tax Service (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) to the court for the final registration of the new owner; the court then sends a bill for registration, and the new owner after payment of the invoice is entered in the land registry (Grundbuch), which is an evidence of title to the real estate in Germany. An extract from the land register on title to the real estate can be certified either by the notary and an employee of the district court (Amtsgericht) in case of the new owner’s personal request.

6) Further real estate management

ESTATE-SERVICE24 offers quality service for commercial property management:

contraction of construction companies for reconstruction and connection of city utilities, as well as control over the real estate condition on the tender basis. At the request, we can also let the property, namely we can search for tenants, and sign rent agreements as well as provide other related services.

ESTATE-SERVICE24 services for acquisition and property management are agreed in advance and confirmed by the client (the property buyer) after clarifications and approval.

ESTATE-SERVICE24 ensures complete confidentiality with respect to information received from the client and transactions.

Ask the Specialist!