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Real Estate

This service is aimed at real estate and property owners (domestic and foreign), landlords and tenants, future homeowners and those who have already sold their property.

The purchase or sale of real estate is usually a sensitive and sometimes difficult matter. After all, it always involves a lot of money. A house, a beautiful apartment, an ideally located plot of land can quickly turn from a dream into a nightmare. Home ownership is a stable long-term form of investment. It doesn’t matter whether you use your own property yourself or rent it out. However, there are also many hidden conflicts and pitfalls. An owner-occupied property should be relatively stable in value, but you are often exposed to speculators in the immediate vicinity. The rented property brings in additional income, provided the tenant pays his rent (-> rental nomads) and does not make the property uninhabitable.

You must first prove that you have been deceived and acquired the property under false promises. This makes litigation particularly difficult, as claims for damages are usually very difficult to enforce. By the time investors become aware of fraudulent behavior, the companies are often already insolvent or continue to operate the business under a different name, a different legal form and usually at a different location. Meanwhile, the banks are pressing for interest and repayment of the loans. Revoking the purchase of the property is also difficult and costly from a legal point of view. For a long time, the right of withdrawal for consumers did not apply to loan agreements. However, after the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued landmark rulings, there is now a right of withdrawal.

If the brokers have deliberately misled investors about the value of the property by providing incorrect information, the financing bank can be held liable. This is why most bruised investors take legal action against the financing banks. However, such a lawsuit only has a chance of success if it can be proven that the bank had an advantage in terms of knowledge. This is the case, for example, if the bank knew that a property was not worth the value for which it had granted the loan. For a long time, it was unclear at what point in time the possibility of compensation became time barred. In 2007, the Federal Court of Justice ruled in a consumer-friendly manner that the limitation period only begins when the buyer becomes aware that he has been deceived. After the crisis, the limitation period was also increased from three to ten years.

Since June 13th, 2014, withdrawal rights for consumers, in Europe, also apply in Austria. These provisions of the new FAGG (Distance and Off-Premises Selling Act) apply to both purchase and service contracts, not to real estate purchase contracts or residential rental contracts, although they do apply to brokerage contracts with consumers.
The situation is even more challenging when buying/selling real estate abroad, as it is country specific. The Internet is full of attractive offers with a price well below the average and all kinds of discounts to attract the interest of potential buyers. The properties can lead to unpleasant surprises later.

Legal problems such as:

• unclear ownership
• fraudulent scheme – not signed by the legal seller
• payments for the property are made to a dummy account
• the property does not have the necessary documents
• no original purchase contract for the building plot, no building permit, etc.

are not uncommon.

This can lead to the loss of money or other serious problems with the registration of ownership of the purchased property. For example, not everyone knows that in other countries the number of square meters paid is calculated differently than in Germany or Austria. Such situations can cost the buyer a lot of money.

When dealing with private estate agents as well as agencies, real estate funds and real estate investments that have no positive reputation or have been active on the market too shortly, you should proceed with caution. There are many agencies that are set up for fraudulent purposes.
Have you tried everything to get out of your situation and don’t know what to do? We will accompany you all the way, around the clock, discreetly and quickly. In close cooperation with our local experts (both national and international) in conjunction with lawyers, banking information centers, detective agencies, etc., we will find a solution to this conflict.