Real Estate Law

Specialists in construction & real estate law

Investing in real estate is lucrative, both for private individuals and for commercial or institutional investors. Whether you’re investing in your dream home or business premises or conducting a building sale or purchase – comprehensive legal advice from experienced real estate lawyers is crucial for the successful completion of your real estate transaction. As a seller or buyer, you need to be alert to legal risks that can only be managed effectively with the help of a specialist legal professional.

The reason for this lies in the interdisciplinary character of this area of law: in addition to traditional subdivisions such as property law, residential property law and tenancy law, it’s also important to consider aspects of liability law, family law, inheritance law, architect law and copyright law.

ZENK Rechtsanwälte provide comprehensive legal advice from a single source.

We are inspired by interesting architecture and engineering structures, which is why we have long made this area of law a particular focus. As a team of lawyers highly specialized in construction and real estate, we are happy to advise you on all associated legal matters – from the idea or purchase to planning and construction and finally to completion or sale.

In each project phase, you will be assigned an experienced personal point of contact to attend to your concerns. Our clients in real estate law include, in particular:

• Institutional investors
• Public and private owners
• Homeowners’ associations
• Architects
• Engineers
• Building contractors
• Building owners
• Commercial landlords
• Property managers
• Project managers

Consulting ZENK, you benefit not only from our in-depth legal expertise, but also from our knowledge of the financial aspects of real estate projects and their complex, interlocking mechanisms. It is precisely this comprehensive understanding that enables us to take a holistic view of your specific situation and thus to offer you individual legal advice in line with your interests at all times.

Real estate: the immovable. In actual fact, however, modern real estate is amazingly dynamic – and active management is central to the success of dynamic economic activity. In its capacity as a commercial product, real estate creates complex demands from a legal, tax-related and economic perspective. This challenge inspires us. At ZENK, we provide highly specialized advice on all aspects of real estate law.

Whether share deals, asset deals, forward deals, “sale and lease back”, purchases, sales or due diligence: we work with you to develop creative solutions and reliable strategies. We seek to determine the most appropriate form of real estate transaction and the best possible way to implement it.

Outstanding legal and economic expertise, a holistic approach and a passion for our work mean that you are assured a secure legal basis for your transactions and real estate activities.

The “temporary transfer of use of an object in return for payment” – so goes the matter-of-fact legal definition of tenancy law. “That can’t be so difficult,” one might think. In fact, there is hardly any other area of law with a comparable number of potential pitfalls, each of which can easily turn an intended action into its opposite.

At the same time, tenancy law has an economic significance that should not be underestimated: investment decisions in the real estate sector almost always depend on the evaluation of existing or potential tenancy agreements, their addenda and compliance with the written form. Even for companies who are not active in the real estate sector, an expertly-concluded, long-term binding rental agreement is the basis for and a crucial determiner of economic activity.

We draft, advise, review and negotiate more than 600 rental agreements every year.

Idea seeks capital and location, location seeks idea and capital, capital seeks idea and location: it couldn’t be simpler, right?

Unfortunately, this is not enough: the development of a real estate project is probably the most complex task that can arise in the context of real estate-related value creation.

Design of an urban planning concept, planning permission, project financing and raising of external capital, acquisition of land and buildings, preparation of land, management of the remediation of contaminated sites, selection and optimization of tax structures, construction of the property with various parties, tenant move-in and ultimately the commercial exploitation of the property: these are only a small selection of the legal issues to be resolved. Early and ongoing legal advice is essential for doing this – and it pays off. We’ll be by your side with a highly specialized team and an enthusiasm for exciting projects.

Diversification is a basic regulatory rule and means minimizing risks in order to achieve long-term profits. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” one could also say, and that’s where we’re going: Our advisory competence is the legal and tax structuring of closed-end real estate investment assets, for which an independent market has firmly established itself in recent years, as well as the clarification of sales-specific questions.

Our clients include (capital) management companies, asset managers, consultants and service providers, distributors of fund products as well as professional and institutional investors. We offer you a legally compliant conception of closed public AIF, special AIF and real estate special funds and advise you in particular on the preparation of sales prospectuses and sales documentation. During the term, we support you in the management of the fund and advise you on all related regulatory issues.

How can I finally obtain acceptance? How do I deal with latecomers? What is part of common property, and what is not? Does it always need to be a fight? Can the property manager take care of things themselves, or is a resolution or even a written agreement required? There are a number of specific issues surrounding residential property and part ownership.

Seeking advice early can help – and we can provide it. If it’s already too late for preventative measures, we can help in this case, too. We know our way around. Formulating a declaration of division of ownership, managing the interaction of co-ownership, special ownership and partial ownership, acquiring residential property, or whatever else – you can rely on us.

The right facility management (FM) or building management (BM) is an essential factor in the maintaining the value of your property long-term. Operator responsibility, reporting and controlling duties, the details of remuneration – all this requires careful regulation.

Our long-standing clients include institutional investors, project developers and real estate companies with portfolios spanning the whole of Germany. We draft, review and negotiate FM contracts for these clients in a range of areas, including technical building management, infrastructure building management and commercial building management. We offer you legally compliant, tried-and-tested solutions that are suitable for the everyday resolution of all FM-specific legal issues.