- The valuation purpose and basis of value must be expressly included in the instruction.
- The valuation, inspection and document preparation dates may differ.
- Compare results only where the subject is the same and the assumptions are clear.
What does market value mean?
Under § 2 LBG, market value is the price achievable in ordinary, fair market dealings. Particular personal preferences of individuals are disregarded. A specific selling price, by contrast, arises from an actual agreement with a particular buyer, a particular subject matter and specific conditions. It may differ from a previously substantiated assessment of value.
An asking price is, in turn, the amount requested during marketing. It may reflect a strategy and does not yet show a completed purchase. Your personal minimum price answers a different question again: what decision is acceptable to you under your circumstances? Naming these figures separately prevents a negotiating target from appearing to be an objectively substantiated market value.
Foundations: RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [1]
The purpose determines which question must be answered
For an initial overview of assets, an estimate clearly labelled as guidance may suffice. For a division of assets or formal proceedings, the parties often need a particularly transparent common basis. For financing or a valuation governed by law, the requesting organisation may have its own requirements for the relevant value and form of evidence. Clarify these requirements before commissioning the work.
§ 1 LBG governs direct application, particularly in judicial and certain administrative proceedings. Not every private assessment automatically falls fully within it. At the same time, § 2 expressly allows for a value defined differently by law or legal transaction. The label property value alone is therefore insufficient to treat two figures as professionally equivalent.
Foundations: RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [1] · RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [2]
Document valuation, inspection and report dates separately
The valuation date is the point in time to which the valuation relates. The inspection date records when the existing property was observed. The preparation date shows when the result was produced. These dates may coincide, but need not. The LBG identifies the valuation date and inspection date as separate particulars of the valuation report.
For an earlier valuation date, the condition at that time must be established. Gather photographs, contracts, plans and documents about subsequent changes that can be assigned to dates. Heating renewed today, for example, must not appear without explanation as part of the earlier property. How later information may be used to reconstruct the position must be clarified in the particular valuation instruction.
Foundations: RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [3]
Which property and which condition are being valued?
Define whether the subject is an entire property, a co-ownership share, a particular apartment or an individual right. Identify included parking spaces, garden rights and ancillary areas. A value for an entire property does not automatically answer every question about an encumbered share or a unit with restricted availability.
Write down the assumed occupancy status: currently let, actually vacant or available with vacant possession under a special assumption. Distinguish actual condition from a scenario. A valuation following assumed refurbishment also needs a description of the works assumed; it cannot be used as the value of the unchanged existing property.
| Decision | What must be expressly included |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Which specific decision or requirement should it support? |
| Basis of value | Market value or an expressly specified different value? |
| Subject | Property, unit, share and included rights |
| Valuation date | Specific date and the condition at that time to be established |
| Assumptions | Use, legal status, refurbishment and unresolved prerequisites |
| Evidence | Documents, inspection, justification and intended recipients |
Foundations: RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [3]
When are two results comparable at all?
Place the two instruction sheets side by side before questioning a difference. If one figure describes the unrefurbished property and the other a fully modernised property, the discrepancy is initially explained by different questions. The same applies to different valuation dates, extents of area or assumptions about letting.
Once subject and instruction are aligned, check the data and methods. Under § 7 LBG, the method must be chosen on professional and market-related grounds; multiple results are assessed with regard to the market. A simple average is no substitute for explaining unresolved contradictions.
Ask specifically for a reconciliation: which assumption causes which difference, and which document could clarify it? This produces a question that can be resolved. A higher or lower result alone proves neither better data nor more careful work.
Foundations: RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes [4]
Fictional case: an earlier division of assets and a sale today
An invented family needs an assessment as at 1 March of a past year and is also considering a sale following refurbishment carried out since then.
- For the earlier division, the historical valuation date is recorded explicitly. The condition at that time is reconstructed using available photographs, accounts and contracts.
- For today's sale, a separate instruction is drawn up using the current condition and current valuation date. The subsequent works are documented individually.
- A renovated bathroom inspected today does not belong in the description of the earlier condition without explanation. The invoice date, execution and scope are therefore placed in chronological order.
- Both results are labelled with their purpose and assumptions. Any difference in amount is first explained by reference to time, condition and market evidence.
The family receives two traceable answers to different questions. The figures must not be treated as contradictory valuations solely because they concern the same address.
Your next assessment steps
Record what you have already clarified and which documents you still need.
Express the decision question in one sentence
Prevents a valuation instruction without a clear intended use.
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Record your own decision and the requirements of the organisation involved.
Confirm the basis of value and property scope
Creates a shared basis for the instruction and comparison.
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Agree this with the valuation professional and, where relevant, the requesting organisation.
Compile the valuation date and evidence of condition
Assigns physical and contractual facts to the correct point in time.
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
Date photographs, plans, contract versions and the chronology of works.
Clearly identify special assumptions
Separates the existing property from conditional scenarios.
Where can I obtain the supporting information?
State them expressly in the instruction and subsequently in the result.
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Sources and date
The following sources support this main article. For your specific property, current documents and the applicable conditions matter.
- RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des BundesProperty Valuation Act: § 2, valuation principle
- RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des BundesProperty Valuation Act: § 1, scope
- RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des BundesProperty Valuation Act: § 9, general requirements for the valuation report
- RIS – Rechtsinformationssystem des BundesProperty Valuation Act: § 7, choice of valuation method
Editorial date: 11/09/2026. Examples explain relationships and do not contain an individually prepared property valuation. Editorial work and sources.
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