An offered plot of land is built on and appears interesting for later personal use. However, the sale concerns the land itself, while someone else holds the existing hereditary building right (Erbbaurecht). The purchase must therefore be assessed from the perspective of the future landowner. A picture of the house does not answer what use of the plot you would actually be acquiring.
First establish which side you are buying on
§1 ErbbauRG describes the encumbrance of a plot of land with the alienable and inheritable right to have a building on or beneath its surface. According to §12, the building erected as a result of the hereditary building right belongs to its essential components. The provision also deals with buildings already in existence at the time the right is granted and the relationship to the land’s components. [BAUWERKRECHT] [ZUGEHOERIGKEIT]
Have the specific object of sale and the existing legal positions explained to you on the basis of the decisive documents. The payment for the encumbered plot must not be treated in your planning without scrutiny as payment for a house available for your own use.
Put the current situation before the future wish
Describe your actual purpose: are you looking for a long-term holding of the land with the existing contractual relationship, or do you want to build or live there yourself as soon as possible? Those are different expectations. The latter expectation requires a separately examined route; the land purchase alone does not provide it.
Our editorial recommendation: draw up an overview of today’s legal positions, actually proven ongoing payments and unresolved future assumptions. Do not accept any asserted imminent availability that is only based on the age of the building or a desire of the Erbbauberechtigter to sell.
Have the role you take on reviewed
For your advice, the creation, subsequent changes, current land register status and the documents relating to the ongoing relationship belong together. Which rights and obligations transfer with the specific land purchase or must additionally be agreed must be assessed by a specialist. The fact that you will be the landowner in future does not in itself explain every contractual position.
Also have known arrears, disputes and announced changes disclosed and put into context. This article does not determine an Erbbauzins nor a land value. An alleged annual incoming payment is by itself not a verified return and not evidence of freely available liquidity.
Hypothetical case: your own new build is not yet a secured prospect
A couple are interested in a plot because they want to build their own house there later. They assume that the existing building will be at their disposal after purchasing the land. However, the sales documents contain an existing hereditary building right of another party.
The couple now have the existing legal situation and the actually possible route to their new-build goal examined separately. If that route remains unresolved, the purchase price comparison must not be presented as if a building plot freely available for use were being offered. The example makes no statement about an early termination or its costs.
Do not derive the future from a general rule
§12 also governs the allocation of components when the hereditary building right expires. From that does not follow, for your individual case, a verified date, a specific compensation or a short-term release for use. [ZUGEHOERIGKEIT] A purchase decision requires the concrete contractual and land register situation. Decide only on the basis of the role you are actually to acquire and the economically examined consequences for it.