ᐅ New Construction and Groundwater – What Should I Be Aware Of?

Hello everyone,

I am interested in purchasing a newly built apartment in Frankfurt Maintal-Dörnigheim. The three residential buildings share an underground parking garage, and there are also basement storage rooms. The site was previously farmland.

I received a document called Basic Certificate from the developer. After extensive research online, I found out that groundwater lowering was carried out (see attached GroundwaterLowering.png). Additionally, it seems that a new groundwater monitoring station was installed – I conclude this because it does not appear on the interactive groundwater monitoring map of the Main-Kinzig district. The groundwater lowering was performed by a reputable civil engineering company specializing in deep foundation work.

The contract contains the following clause:
"The buyer’s rights concerning defects in the land, particularly regarding the area size, location of the property, and soil condition, are excluded unless the buildings to be constructed cannot be built or used as intended on the property, or if the condition of the land leads to defects in the structure. Any claim for soil-related compensation is explicitly excluded. The seller is not aware of any contaminated sites."

What do you think about this? I have already read some posts on this topic but cannot make a clear decision. What else should I consider? Any opinion is welcome. It seems to me that the developer acted professionally to ensure the building’s stability – however, I have little experience with construction technology.

Thank you and best regards

I am not familiar with the area or the reason for the subsidence. In my hometown, from the 1970s to the 2000s, construction took place on former marshlands because the groundwater level dropped due to lignite mining. Now, as the mining moves on and will soon stop, the groundwater is rising again. Houses built with an appropriate pumping system or with a waterproof concrete shell (“white tank”) have no issues. Others have become partly uninhabitable due to mold. Therefore, I would recommend factoring in construction costs for measures needed for the original groundwater level. However, this is just an amateur suggestion.

To me, it reads as if the building has already been constructed? If groundwater was lowered, it was likely to build the underground parking garage. I don’t see anything unusual about that at first... No contamination is known. Groundwater was apparently known. So it should have been built in a way that the building is stable...