ᐅ Expert Consultant: In Which Construction Phases Is Their Involvement Crucial?

@ypg: Yes, ownership of, for example, the land initially remains with the builder, but as far as I understand, this is the usual practice. However, all payments and values are secured through a notary by means of a preliminary notice of conveyance and guarantees. At least, this is the explanation given by the contract examiner, the bank (which will not lend money without security), and the notary.

@Strahleman Great, thank you. If this has already proven reliable, it is a good reference point.

BigFoot schrieb:

@11ant I still don’t fully understand your assessment. Neighbors had the contract reviewed, [...] legally it was clean.

Legally, there may be no objections, but it’s not logical:

ypg schrieb:

So you pay your installments, but ownership stays with the developer until handover? Where is the security for the money paid?

That’s exactly how I see it too.

BigFoot schrieb:

Yes, ownership of, for example, the plot initially remains with the developer,

That’s exactly where the nonsense comes in: when buying from a developer, you are buying an inseparable bundle of land and house — in other words, a developed plot. To compare it with a car, the house would be a used property with zero kilometers (0 miles). The fact that nowadays it is common to start “built to order” construction only after the sale (so the plot is still undeveloped at the notary appointment) does not change the legal nature of the developer business, which typically does not involve making payments based on construction progress.

From a consumer perspective, your contract setup might seem practically fine, but it remains a hybrid of two very different relationships, namely with a developer and a general contractor combined in one. And that is exactly why tax authorities in my opinion with good reason treat this as a developer contract, even in cases where the developer-general contractor operates through two nominal sister companies.

As far as I can judge as a non-lawyer, this is probably perfectly legal and not criminal — but as a businessman I find it almost impressively shady, and I doubt such a setup would ever come about if a sophisticated buyer were on the “consumer side.”

BigFoot schrieb:

However, all payments and values are secured through the notary by a priority notice of conveyance and guarantees.

Yes, that’s how it can still work — but it’s probably very expensive in notary fees. At that point, I would drop out — but nobody has to take me as an example.

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We bought an apartment from the developer in a residential complex that is still under construction. Just as described by @BigFoot, we make installment payments according to the construction progress and are registered in the land registry with a priority notice of conveyance.

Although we do not have the right to access the construction site, we were able to agree with the developer, more specifically with the site manager, that our independent expert can inspect certain trades. This is also definitely in the developer’s interest since they are still responsible under the warranty, and with our expert—whom we pay ourselves—we can ensure that their subcontractors are working properly.

@BigFoot I would try to explore in a friendly phone call with your developer’s site manager whether you and your expert may access the construction site. If they react negatively, you can still argue that you need to verify the claimed construction progress stated in the partial payment invoices.

@BigFoot Make sure to have someone check the waterproofing membrane in the bathrooms (the tile installer does this before the tiles are applied). According to our expert, this is the most common source of problems in bathrooms.