Terms & conditions

The invoicing of services by real estate brokers is handled differently in an international context. In some countries the tenant pays the commission fee for renting an apartment directly to the agency, in other countries it is the landlord who settles the broker’s bill.

Germany is among those countries where the broker’s fees are balanced directly between landlord and agency in most cases.

Business conditions:

Sect. 1 Non-permission of service charges

a) Our service is free of charges for the interested person or tenant. Sect. 6 and 9 are also binding for him, however – see below.

b) The services of apartments-b2b (holder: Thorsten Zierenberg) – in the following named apartments-b2b – are free of charges until a successful brokerage (conclusion of a tenancy agreement or letting agreement). If the brokerage is successful, the landlord is subject to a commission fee (according to Sect. 2).

Sect. 2 Commission rates

The basis for the calculation of the commission is the legal nature of the brokered tenancy agreement. The following rules shall apply: For each tenancy of a duration of more than 11 months – including tenancies of unlimited duration – the commission rate is 1.2 monthly rents plus the current VAT of 19% (= 142.80% of one monthly rent including the current VAT of 19%).

For the sake of good will and with regard to tenancy agreements with effectively shorter tenancy durations we nevertheless always offer a graded payment. The grading is based on the actual duration of the tenancy; the commission fee is thus also bound to the actual tenancy duration. The basis for the calculation is stated as follows:

For each and every month 10% of the rent which is agreed with the tenant plus the current legal VAT of 19% = 11.90% of the agreed monthly rent – for a maximum of 12 months, however (=142.80% of one monthly rent including the current VAT of 19%).

The offer of a graded payment depending on the duration of the tenancy shall be revoked and replaced by the payment of the fixed commission of 1.2 monthly rents plus VAT (= 142.80% of one monthly rent including VAT) in the following cases: attempted fraud, non-payment of parts of the commission (see Sect. 7), the obvious attempt to delay payments by means of the grading agreement, false or omitted notification of a successful brokerage (see Sect. 3).

With tenancies of a limited duration of less than 12 months the stated commission fees are charged:

In all cases the basis for the calculation is the amount stated as the monthly rent by the landlord to apartments-b2b.

Sect. 3 Obligation to notify

(a) Obligation to notify / successful brokerage:
If a tenancy agreement is concluded between the offering party/landlord and the tenant through the brokerage of apartments-b2b (or through the „opportunity to conclude an agreement …” etc.) – be it through a written or an oral arrangement – apartments-b2b has to be notified about this as well as about the essential conditions of the contract (particularly duration and monthly rent) immediately.

(b) Notification period:
The notification period shall be 3 working days (from the date when the respective proceedings were agreed upon).

Sect. 4 Due date/commission

A commission shall be paid if the offering party/landlord and the tenant conclude an agreement. The payment shall be due at the time when the agreement is concluded (and not on the basis of the actual starting date of the agreement), provided that a graded payment according to the above Sect. 2 does not apply.

Sect. 5 Same landlord – different rental object

It is not apartments-b2b´s task to broker a specific rental object, but to provide an opportunity to conclude an agreement. Accordingly apartments-b2b can also claim a commission, if a tenancy agreement is concluded for an alternative object of the landlord/offering party. The commission rate shall be determined based on the nature of the accepted offer.

Sect. 6 Duty to observe secrecy

a) The interested person or tenant shall be obliged not to pass on offers received by apartments-b2b to any third parties. In the case of an unauthorized disclosure of information the client shall be liable to apartments-b2b for damages. The amount of the payable damages shall be equivalent to the commission for the disclosed offer.

Brokerages commissioned on behalf of a third party are excluded from that. In this context the disclosure of the received information shall be strictly limited to the person/-s for whom the brokerage has been commissioned, though.

In these cases the formal commissioning party (company, parents, authorities etc.) shall additionally be liable for the quoted respective person/-s (employees, children, applicants etc.) to comply with the above clause, however. Persons passing on the information (in particular legal persons) shall not only be liable with regard to a certain third party, but for all agreements concluded due to the disclosure.

b) The landlord/offering party shall be obliged not to pass on the interested persons’ or tenants’ data received by apartments-b2b to any third parties. In the case of an unauthorized disclosure of information the landlord/offering party shall be liable to apartments-b2b for damages. The amount of the payable damages shall be equivalent to the commission which one would have had to pay in case the lease had been achieved according to the interested persons’ or tenants’ needs or wishes, brokered by apartments-b2b.

Sect. 7 Extensions of tenancies

For tenancy agreements of an unlimited duration/open-ended tenancies the following shall apply: extensions shall, due to their nature, not be regarded as separate agreements but as natural extension options within the underlying tenancy agreement.

With Sect. 2 apartments-b2b provides the landlords/offering parties with an opportunity to limit the commission fee to the de facto term of lease. As the ultimate duration is often not known at the beginning of the tenancy, the calculation is usually carried out stepwise. If the provisionally expected duration is exceeded, apartments-b2b will do a subsequent billing of the difference owed according to the graded scale.

Subsequent billings serve as an adjustment of the actual duration with this procedure. They can neither be classified as a commission fee for a new tenancy nor can any payment for a past time period be regarded as a remuneration for a recently expired tenancy contract with a limited duration (or another certifiable break within the tenancy contract). As far as the actual end of the contract period exceeds the provisionally expected duration, the previous payment ultimately has to be understood as a first payment for the final commission fee, therefore.

Nevertheless the financial obligation for possible extensions ends when the maximum fee is reached (= 1.2 one monthly rent + VAT = 142.80% of one monthly rent).

If the tenant is a juristic person (company, institution, corporation and so on) the potential substitution of an individual occupier has no influence on the legal continuity of the tenancy contract.

Sect. 8 Right to rent out

If the landlord/offering party is not the owner of the object, he has to prove to apartments-b2b the right to sublease the object. The landlord/offering party shall be liable to apartments-b2b for all damages which result from a non-existing permission for subletting.

Sect. 9 Covenant strength

The tenant assures his untainted financial solvency. He explicitly states that he has no negative entries listed in the Schufa database (if applicable) and is willing and able to pay both deposit and the ongoing rent. Apartments-b2b declines any responsibility for a tenant’s potential lack of solvency towards the landlord.

Sect. 10 Place of jurisdiction

The place of jurisdiction in commercial dealings is Cologne.

apartments-b2b (Holder: Thorsten Zierenberg)