According to § 34c Para. 1 Sentence 1 No. 1 of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (GewO), a license is required to broker the conclusion and provide evidence of the opportunity to conclude contracts for land, land rights, commercial premises or residential premises.
In the case of partnerships, every managing partner is a trader; in the case of legal entities, the license is granted to the legal entity (e.g. GmbH or AG).
Traders are subject to special obligations in accordance with the Real Estate Agent and Property Developer Ordinance. The obligations to be observed under the Real Estate Agent and Property Developer Ordinance (MaBV) include in particular
- to provide sufficient collateral or to take out suitable insurance for this purpose if the trader receives or uses the client's assets (Section 2 MaBV),
- to manage the client's assets received separately (§ 6 MaBV),
- to submit an invoice to the client after completion of the contract (§ 8 MaBV),
- to notify the competent authority of any change in the persons entrusted with the management of the business or a branch office (Section 9 MaBV),
- to provide the client with the information in text form necessary for the assessment of the order and the contract to be brokered or verified (§ 11 MaBV),
- to keep books including the recording of data on individual business transactions and on the clients (§ 10 MaBV),
- Obligation to provide further training (§ 15b MaBV).
To protect the client, the trader's authority to use the client's assets has also been restricted (Section 4 MaBV). In addition, the trader may be obliged to have compliance with the provisions of the Real Estate Agent and Property Developer Ordinance audited at his own expense on special occasions and to submit the audit report to the competent authority if this is necessary for effective monitoring (Section 16 (2) MaBV).
The authorities have rights of information and inspection vis-à-vis traders pursuant to Section 34c GewO in accordance with Section 29 GewO. At the request of the authorities, the parties concerned must provide the information required to monitor business operations. Furthermore, the authorities are authorized to enter the business premises in order to carry out inspections and visits.
In addition to obtaining a permit in accordance with § 34c GewO, you must notify the responsible municipality of the business in accordance with § 14 GewO when you commence your activities.
If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.