When a detached house or a condominium is sold to a private buyer in Germany, seller and buyer split the broker commission equally. Section 656c of the German Civil Code has required this since 23 December 2020: a broker may not charge the buyer more than the seller. The commission only falls due once the purchase contract is notarised — nothing is payable before that.
Seller and buyer each pay half when a detached house or condominium is sold to a private individual. Under § 656c BGB neither side may be charged more than the other. If only one side engages the broker, that side carries at least half itself.
No. The sharing rule covers only detached houses and condominiums sold to consumers. For land, apartment buildings, commercial property and business-to-business sales, the commission is freely negotiable.
We work with several models and agree the rate with you in the first consultation — depending on the property and the marketing effort, either as a seller-paid commission or as a shared one split equally between seller and buyer. We deliberately do not quote a blanket rate, because it rarely fits the individual property. You get a binding figure in the free initial consultation, before you commit.
A seller-paid commission is borne by the seller, a buyer-paid one by the buyer. When a detached house or condominium is sold to a private individual, the buyer may never carry more than the seller — a purely seller-paid commission is permitted, a purely buyer-paid one is not. Which model suits your property depends on its type, price bracket and demand.
On notarisation of the purchase contract. If no contract is concluded, no commission is owed. Valuation, brochure, photography, marketing and viewings are free of charge with us until that point.
Sellers can deduct it where the sale is taxable — for example a let property sold inside the ten-year speculation period. Buyers can capitalise it via depreciation on a let property, but not on an owner-occupied one. Your tax adviser gives the binding answer.
Yes. Since 2020, § 656a BGB requires text form for detached houses and condominiums — an email suffices, a verbal agreement is void. That protects both sides from disputes over the amount.
That depends on the price achieved, not on the commission. An asking price set too low usually costs far more than the commission — and so does one set too high, leaving the property on the market for months. We give you a defensible price range in a free initial consultation before you decide.
In an initial consultation we work through commission, incidental costs and a realistic sale price — non-binding, no contract.
