ᐅ Is the developer required to keep us informed about the current status?

Hello, we purchased a house from a developer earlier this year. At that time, the building permit / planning permission was not yet granted (we were assured in writing and verbally that only minor issues remained and that the permit would be issued within a maximum of one month).

That did not quite turn out to be true, as even after four attempts to obtain approval, the permit has still not been granted. The developer is gradually running into problems meeting the contractually agreed completion date.

However, our main concern is that we receive no information from the developer about the current status. This is very frustrating for us.
Initially, the developer called us regularly and provided updated plans (the project includes 10 houses, and the location of the houses, access roads, and garage courtyard have changed slightly between the different plan versions).

But for about two months now, there has been complete silence. We no longer receive calls from the developer. Our inquiries by email or fax go unanswered. When we call our contact person at the developer’s office, we are told that he is no longer allowed to provide us with any information (this instruction comes directly from management). He is also not permitted to send us the latest plans. We will only receive information about the current status once the building permit is granted.

At the moment, we therefore know nothing about the status of the house we purchased — not even how the overall project currently looks.

That is why we want to ask here whether this kind of behavior from the developer is normal and lawful. Is the developer obliged to provide information to buyers? Do we have the right to view the latest plans?

It is not normal, but I believe he is within his rights as long as he does not breach the contract—that is, fails to meet the completion deadline.

However, if it states: 6 months from the first groundbreaking, then you’re out of luck.

A developer is even allowed to deny you access to the construction site... He has the right to control the property until handover.

This is not legal advice. Only lawyers are allowed to give legal advice in Germany.

Der Da schrieb:
It's not usual, but I believe he is in the right as long as he does not breach the contract, meaning as long as he meets the completion date.
However, if it says: 6 months from the first ground-breaking, then you're out of luck.

We were careful about that.
The completion date is specified as an exact date in our purchase contract.

What do the other 9 parties involved in the project say? There is strength in numbers.
Could the developer possibly be facing liquidity problems? (which I really hope is not the case for you)

klblb schrieb:
What do the other 9 parties involved in the project say? There is strength in numbers.
Could the developer possibly be facing liquidity issues? (which I really hope is not the case for you)

According to our knowledge, the developer does not have liquidity problems. They are relatively large and well-known in the region. Currently, they have 12 construction projects underway. The last two were put up for sale just last week...
We also contacted our savings bank about this. They are not aware of any such issues either.

Unfortunately, we do not know the other buyers yet. Since construction has not started, there have been no joint events (groundbreaking, topping out ceremony, etc.).

I rather think the developer wants to generally keep a low profile with this project. From our perspective, they have so far jeopardized the building permit through really "stupid mistakes." This has also been reported several times in the local press. The developer now apparently wants to prevent the public from learning more about this through their behavior.
But it is very unfortunate that the buyers have to suffer as a result.

Hello,

Robert.Schmidt schrieb:

That’s why we wanted to ask whether such behavior from the developer is considered “normal” and lawful. Is the developer obligated to provide information to the buyers? Do we have the right to review the current plans?

It is certainly neither normal nor customer-friendly; whether it is lawful can ultimately only be answered by a lawyer you trust. Nobody here knows the contracts you signed.

Are you insisting on enforcement of the contract?

And if so—why don’t you approach the building authority yourself to inquire about the status of the approval process?

Regards, Bauexperte