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Mandatory for the notary: a current land register extract and the energy certificate. For condominiums add the declaration of division with the partition plan, the community rules and – if the declaration requires it – the notarised consent of the property manager.

Buyers and banks also expect floor plans, a living-space calculation, the cadastral map, the building description, proof of modernisations and, for condominiums, the business plan, service charge statements and the minutes of the last owners’ meetings. We tell you what you already have and obtain the rest.

An agent’s market assessment is a reasoned price recommendation based on comparable data and market knowledge. For selling and letting it is the right basis – with us it is free of charge.

A formal market value appraisal under section 194 of the German Federal Building Code and the Property Valuation Ordinance (ImmoWertV 2021) is prepared by a certified or publicly appointed expert. It is needed where a value has to hold up legally: inheritance and gift tax, divorce, court proceedings, compulsory auction. It is paid for and takes several weeks.

For the sale of apartments and single-family homes to consumers the rule since 23 December 2020 is: if the agent acts for both sides, the commission must be agreed in equal amounts. If only one side instructs the agent, the other may pay at most half (sections 656c and 656d of the German Civil Code). The brokerage contract needs text form; an e-mail is sufficient.

Customary in Berlin is a total of 7.14 % of the purchase price including VAT, i.e. 3.57 % per side. For residential lettings the “orderer principle” applies: whoever instructs the agent pays – as a rule the landlord.

Real estate transfer tax is 6.0 % of the purchase price in Berlin and 6.5 % in Brandenburg. It is due one month after the tax assessment is served and is in practice borne by the buyer.

Notary and land registry together cost roughly 1.5 to 2.0 % of the purchase price; the fees are set by law (GNotKG) and were raised slightly on 1 June 2025. Add the agent’s commission and, where applicable, financing costs such as the land charge registration.

When selling or letting you must present a valid energy certificate at the viewing at the latest and hand it over after the contract is concluded. Even the advert must state the certificate type, final energy demand or consumption, energy source, year of construction and efficiency class. A certificate is valid for ten years.

A demand-based certificate is mandatory for residential buildings with fewer than five apartments whose building application was filed before 1 November 1977 and which have not been brought up to the 1977 thermal insulation standard. In all other cases a consumption-based certificate is sufficient. We help you order the right one.

Profits from the private sale of a property are taxable if no more than ten years lie between acquisition and sale – the decisive dates are those of the notarised purchase agreements (section 23 of the German Income Tax Act).

The sale remains tax-free if you have lived in the property yourself exclusively since acquisition, or at least in the year of sale and the two preceding calendar years. For inherited properties the deceased’s acquisition date counts. Please clarify your personal situation with a tax adviser.

The rent brake applies throughout Berlin until 31 December 2029: for new lettings the rent may be at most 10 % above the local reference rent. Exceptions include new builds first used after 1 October 2014 and comprehensively modernised apartments.

In existing tenancies the cap limits rent increases in Berlin to 15 % within three years, up to the local reference rent. The Berlin rent index 2026 is the reference; it is a qualified rent index and is regularly used in court.

A community of heirs can only sell the property unanimously. If one co-heir blocks the sale, the remaining option is a partition auction – lengthy and usually with proceeds below market value. A structured, transparent sales process is therefore the better solution for everyone involved.

Before the sale the land register must be corrected: by certificate of inheritance or, in the case of a notarised will with opening record, without one. Within two years of the inheritance the correction is free of court fees.

The Berlin valuation committee counted 22,912 notarised purchases in 2025, ten per cent more than the year before. For condominiums the median purchase price was 5,511 euros per square metre (up five per cent), in new builds 8,108 euros.

According to the IBB housing market report, asking rents stagnated in 2025 for the first time in years at a median of 15.78 euros per square metre. Demand for owner-occupied property has picked up again as interest rates have stabilised.

Micro-apartments – small, usually furnished units in central locations – answer the growing share of single-person households and commuters. For investors they typically mean higher rents per square metre, but also more tenant turnover, furnishing effort and dependence on location and operator concept.

Julian Bilek examined the segment in depth in his academic work and has been involved in the first letting of 146 micro-apartments in Berlin. In Leipzig, JB Immobilien markets furnished micro-apartments as an investment product.

Note down your goals and your timeline and have the floor plan, size details and information on modernisations at hand – as far as available. It is no problem if documents are missing; we sort out together what is needed.

It also helps to know who has a say in the decision: partner, family, co-heirs. The clearer the starting point, the more concrete our assessment and our recommendation.