Building in Germany is under considerable cost pressure. The Federal Government's efforts to reduce construction costs and accelerate procedures through digitalisation and cutting red tape generally meet with broad approval. Against this backdrop, however, the draft bill on the so-called Building Type E presented by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) is drawing clear criticism. Nationwide consumer protection association Wohnen im Eigentum (WiE) warns that the initiative fails to address the actual cost drivers and weakens essential consumer rights.
According to Dr Sandra von Möller, board member of the association Wohnen im Eigentum, existing law already permits deviations from standard building specifications. The current prerequisite for this is clear disclosure to building clients regarding the specific modifications and their consequences for safety, usability and residential comfort. The draft for Building Type E, by contrast, provides for a new civil law contract type in which blanket references to deviations could suffice. WiE criticises that buyers cannot make an informed decision without detailed disclosure, shifting risks unilaterally.
Legal uncertainties and long-term consequences for property values
The association also takes a critical view of the intention to align minimum civil law requirements with public building regulations and to allow the federal states to enact rules via statutory instruments. This carries the risk of an inconsistent patchwork that creates conditions that are scarcely predictable for building clients and buyers. At the same time, WiE criticises that the draft fails to resolve the impact of lowered construction standards across a property's entire life cycle in a legally secure manner.
- —Potential disadvantages for residential comfort, maintenance expenditure and resale value
- —Danger of future warranty claims when reselling the property
- —Risk of rent reductions in the event of subsequent letting
- —Regional fragmentation of standards through statutory instruments issued by the federal states
Rejection of a statutory default rule
WiE expresses particular concern regarding considerations to establish Building Type E not only as an explicitly agreed exception (opt-in), but potentially as the statutory default (opt-out). While even the opt-in carries significant dangers for consumers, an opt-out would fundamentally shift the statutory benchmark. In that case, building clients would have to actively object to avoid automatically receiving contracts with reduced standards.
Rather than lowering quality and consumer standards, the association believes the legislator has a duty to optimise procedures through targeted red-tape reduction, faster planning and approval processes, and digital structures. As Dr Sandra von Möller stresses, affordable building requires fewer bureaucratic hurdles, but must on no account be implemented at the expense of existing consumer rights.
