Understanding Your Right of Withdrawal: No Risk or Obligation
When requesting a property brochure or information about a property, a brokerage agreement is generally established under German law. However, prospective buyers and tenants incur no costs or obligations as long as no purchase or rental agreement is concluded. The statutory right of withdrawal is designed to protect consumers and ensure transparency and security.
Right of Withdrawal – Clearly Explained
Consumers generally have a 14-day right of withdrawal for contracts concluded online, by email, or over the phone. Requesting property documents or arranging a viewing remains non-binding and free of charge. The right of withdrawal does not prevent clients from using brokerage services and is intended solely to protect consumers.
How to Receive Property Brochures and Viewing Appointments Immediately
To ensure prompt processing, prospective buyers and tenants can expressly request that the real estate agent begin providing services immediately. This allows them to receive property documents and arrange viewing appointments without delay. Such a request does not create any payment obligation. A brokerage commission is only payable upon a successful transaction, meaning that a purchase or rental agreement is actually concluded.
Anti-Money Laundering Act (GwG): Why We Need Your Identification
Real estate agents are legally required to verify and document the identity of their clients. These regulations are designed to prevent money laundering and ensure the security of all parties involved. Buyers and sellers must therefore provide valid identification documents to verify their identity.
Identification of Buyers and Sellers
Under German legal requirements, real estate agents must verify and document the identities of the parties involved in a transaction. This process also determines whether individuals are acting on their own behalf or on behalf of third parties. In certain cases, additional verification procedures are required, particularly when dealing with legal entities or companies.
When Is Identity Verification Required?
Identity verification takes place as soon as a prospective buyer or tenant demonstrates serious interest in purchasing or renting a property. This may be the case, in particular, when draft contracts have been prepared, reservation agreements have been made, or similar steps have been taken in preparation for concluding a contract.
Money Laundering Act (GwG): Why we need your ID
As real estate agents, we are legally required to verify and document the identity of our clients (buyers and sellers). This obligation under the Money Laundering Act is a routine procedure that serves your security and must be carried out by us for every property purchase. Here you can find out which documents we need and when the identification takes place.
The legal obligation: How we identify buyers and sellers
Under the Money Laundering Act (GwG), real estate agents must verify the identity of their clients (buyers and sellers) when a property is purchased. A real estate agent within the meaning of this Act is any person who, on a commercial basis, brokers the purchase or sale of land or rights equivalent to land. As selling agents, real estate agents are therefore obliged to have the identity documents (ID card/passport/registration certificate) of both parties to the purchase contract, i.e. the buyer and the seller, shown to them, and to make complete copies of the documents or to capture them fully in digital optical form. Copying them out by hand or merely recording them on a documentation form is not sufficient on its own. In addition, the real estate agent must check whether their clients are acting in their own economic interest or on behalf of a third party. If the latter is the case, the beneficial owner must be determined and identified. For this purpose, in the case of legal entities under private law or a registered partnership, the transparency register must be consulted. Pursuant to Section 11 (6) GwG, you as the client are obliged to provide the real estate agent with the relevant information and to present documents or ID for recording.
When the obligation also applies and how coordination works
Likewise, both parties to a lease or tenancy agreement with a monthly rent or lease payment of more than EUR 10,000 (net basic rent) must be identified once the parties are sufficiently established. If several real estate agents are acting for the contracting parties, each agent only has to identify the side for which they are acting. This is intended to avoid double identification (e.g. in joint transactions).
The right time: When is there genuine interest in buying?
The agent must identify the seller and the buyer once there is genuine interest in buying. Genuine interest in buying is to be assumed at the latest when one of the parties has received the draft purchase contract from the other. In addition, genuine interest in concluding the purchase contract may be assumed if the (prospective) buyer has entered into a reservation agreement or a preliminary contract with the (potential) seller or the agent, or has paid a reservation fee to the agent.
Real Estate Association IVD West, revised 11/25