A new law has applied to the sale of condominiums and single-family homes since 2020: In line with the “Bestellerprinzip”, commissioning sellers must pay at least 50 percent of the brokerage fee.
Anyone commissioning a real estate agent for the sale or purchase of an apartment or house must pay at least half of the costs incurred by the real estate agent. This modified form of the socalled buyer’s principle is also anchored in the German Civil Code.
The new “Law on the Distribution of Brokerage Costs in the Brokerage of Purchase Agreements for Apartments and Single-Family Houses” stipulates that buyers can no longer be forced to pay the entire commission if they have not commissioned the brokers themselves.