Contracts, agreements and/or declarations of intent must be regularly notarized within the framework of real estate law. This is especially the case with the property purchase agreement. This is legally regulated in § 311b of the German Civil Code (BGB). In the absence of such a notarial certification, the contract is void due to lack of form.
The reason for this lies in the considerable legal, but above all also financial consequences of such a property purchase agreement. With this purchase legal obligations are transferred to the buyer, such as the payment of land transfer tax. Furthermore, such purchase contracts regularly have such an enormous financial volume that faulty, uncontrolled contracts can often lead to the financial ruin of at least one of the contracting parties.
The notary should point out such risks and avoid them by the right contract design. The notarial certification then fulfils the so-called validity function, evidence function, advisory function and control function.