Draft bill on digitising the implementation of real estate contracts

Anyone buying a house or a plot of land in Germany currently has to go through many administrative steps. Notaries, courts and authorities still exchange documents almost exclusively by post. That is set to change: by no later than 1. Januar 2027, notaries must send applications and contract documents electronically, and authorities must respond digitally as well. In addition, buyers and sellers will in future be able to report data on their property via an online form, so that real estate prices in Germany can be recorded more accurately. This is expected to save members of the public around 31 million euros overall, because procedures will be faster and notary costs will decrease.