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PowerBauer16 May 2017 08:52Good morning dear colleagues,
I am in the fortunate situation of having found our personal dream plot for our first own house. However, I only decided to start building four weeks ago and began searching two weeks ago – and now I need to act quickly, or the plot will be gone! I’m a bit overwhelmed because everything is moving so fast; I’ve already made one mistake and would therefore be extremely grateful for professional help and experience.
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1. Question about the builder:
We would like to build with TAFF-Haus, or rather have to, because the broker involved was until two weeks ago still part of the management team and since February has been an independent broker (during the viewing we were told he only works for the owner… which was true at that time but already feels a bit questionable). Now, there is no information or reviews about TAFF-Haus or the other companies in the parent group "Uwe Köhn Unternehmensgruppe," such as ALLEGRO-Haus (only two negative reports about ALLEGRO here in the forum). This is perhaps not surprising, considering the following from the commercial register regarding the entire company structure:
So, there is practically no experience in housebuilding! Or am I mistaken?
Fortunately (?), TAFF does not handle the construction itself but hires a large number of local subcontractors for the individual trades. You could almost say that they only organize. But I’m not certain about that; the walls are patented (prefabricated house/timber frame construction).
That doesn’t worry me too much yet, although I would prefer a company with many years of experience. But I probably just have to make sure that every tiny detail is documented in writing from the start – as it should be for contracts involving such sums.
-> What do you think? Can TAFF-Haus be trusted?
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2. About my mistake:
I, a naive fool, of course told the seller my budget. Quite surprisingly, our desired house now fits exactly into that budget – what a wonderful coincidence!
To partly fix this and to create a basis for negotiation, I’m considering, as mentioned above, asking for a detailed breakdown of every single item and comparing them online. It would be best to also get reference projects with addresses/contact details and compare prices with those. It can’t be too long since they built those...
-> What should I absolutely pay attention to now?
Is there a checklist or something similar in this forum? I will definitely read the section "Buyer assistance before signing the contract" here in the housebuilding guide, but maybe there is more or something that fits my situation.
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3. Alternative for the brave:
The plot is a dream, and we really want to have it. I have managed to find the owner and am seriously considering making him an offer. In the worst case, I’d pay the “hidden” broker’s commission but would then own the plot and no longer be tied to TAFF. We would also like to change some things about the house, which TAFF with their fixed floor plans cannot offer us.
-> Would you consider this option in my situation? Are there risks?
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Normally I’m someone who research many things extensively myself, but in this case I simply don’t have the time. I am grateful for any answer because the next meeting with TAFF is still this week, when the house is supposed to be planned. Feel free to bombard me with helpful links (as far as allowed) or similar topics, as I simply don’t have time to search and sort – mea culpa!
I am in the fortunate situation of having found our personal dream plot for our first own house. However, I only decided to start building four weeks ago and began searching two weeks ago – and now I need to act quickly, or the plot will be gone! I’m a bit overwhelmed because everything is moving so fast; I’ve already made one mistake and would therefore be extremely grateful for professional help and experience.
-----
1. Question about the builder:
We would like to build with TAFF-Haus, or rather have to, because the broker involved was until two weeks ago still part of the management team and since February has been an independent broker (during the viewing we were told he only works for the owner… which was true at that time but already feels a bit questionable). Now, there is no information or reviews about TAFF-Haus or the other companies in the parent group "Uwe Köhn Unternehmensgruppe," such as ALLEGRO-Haus (only two negative reports about ALLEGRO here in the forum). This is perhaps not surprising, considering the following from the commercial register regarding the entire company structure:
- VSC Vertriebs Service Consult GmbH has existed since January 2006.
- Meißner Bau Management GmbH, like Allegro-Haus GmbH, was founded in December 2012.
- TAFF-Haus GmbH has only existed for two years, since May 2015.
So, there is practically no experience in housebuilding! Or am I mistaken?
Fortunately (?), TAFF does not handle the construction itself but hires a large number of local subcontractors for the individual trades. You could almost say that they only organize. But I’m not certain about that; the walls are patented (prefabricated house/timber frame construction).
That doesn’t worry me too much yet, although I would prefer a company with many years of experience. But I probably just have to make sure that every tiny detail is documented in writing from the start – as it should be for contracts involving such sums.
-> What do you think? Can TAFF-Haus be trusted?
-----
2. About my mistake:
I, a naive fool, of course told the seller my budget. Quite surprisingly, our desired house now fits exactly into that budget – what a wonderful coincidence!
To partly fix this and to create a basis for negotiation, I’m considering, as mentioned above, asking for a detailed breakdown of every single item and comparing them online. It would be best to also get reference projects with addresses/contact details and compare prices with those. It can’t be too long since they built those...
-> What should I absolutely pay attention to now?
Is there a checklist or something similar in this forum? I will definitely read the section "Buyer assistance before signing the contract" here in the housebuilding guide, but maybe there is more or something that fits my situation.
-----
3. Alternative for the brave:
The plot is a dream, and we really want to have it. I have managed to find the owner and am seriously considering making him an offer. In the worst case, I’d pay the “hidden” broker’s commission but would then own the plot and no longer be tied to TAFF. We would also like to change some things about the house, which TAFF with their fixed floor plans cannot offer us.
-> Would you consider this option in my situation? Are there risks?
-----
Normally I’m someone who research many things extensively myself, but in this case I simply don’t have the time. I am grateful for any answer because the next meeting with TAFF is still this week, when the house is supposed to be planned. Feel free to bombard me with helpful links (as far as allowed) or similar topics, as I simply don’t have time to search and sort – mea culpa!
Hmm, difficult... In any case, you would save the property transfer tax on the house if you buy the land directly from the owner.
However, they have to be willing to sell it to you... we had a similar situation, and the owner only sold through the general contractor, no other way... meaning we had to bite the bullet as well... but the house turned out well... and the few thousand extra really don’t make much of a difference...
However, they have to be willing to sell it to you... we had a similar situation, and the owner only sold through the general contractor, no other way... meaning we had to bite the bullet as well... but the house turned out well... and the few thousand extra really don’t make much of a difference...
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PowerBauer16 May 2017 09:11Mycraft schrieb:
In any case, you would also save the property transfer tax on the house if you buy the land directly from the owner... This was confirmed to me anyway, since the agent is independent and I will sign two completely separate contracts for the land and the house. However, because the agent has personal connections to TAFF, he will not release the purchase contract until I have signed with TAFF. I’m not sure how this differs from a typical land plot tied to a building contractor...
PowerBauer schrieb:
That was promised to me anyway, since the real estate agent is independent and I am signing two completely separate contracts for the land and the house.But the tax authorities don’t really care about that... and even if you have 10 contracts... a tied deal is a tied deal...
Buyer Pays Double Property Transfer Tax
The tax court in Munich ruled in favor of the tax authorities. Property transfer tax must be calculated on both the land price and the construction costs, since there is an objective factual connection between the purchase and construction contracts (Tax Court Munich, ruling dated 23 July 2014, case no. 4 K 1039/2). The judges based their decision on principles from the Federal Fiscal Court’s jurisprudence. According to this, the objective factual connection becomes particularly clear when the land buyer is no longer free to decide “if” and “how” to develop the property at the time of signing the land purchase contract. In this context, the judges pointed out that the construction contract was signed before approval of the land purchase contract. Furthermore, the land seller had presented the buyer with a nearly finalized pre-design for a specific building on a clearly defined plot at an almost fixed price before the purchase contract was signed, and the buyer accepted this offer practically unchanged.
Conclusion: If you want to save property transfer tax, the purchase of the land and the later construction project should not be connected in time or contractually.
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PowerBauer16 May 2017 09:33Oh, okay, I wasn’t aware of that. You really can’t rely on anything that’s said... this makes bypassing TAFF even more appealing. Thank you very much for the clarification!!