real estate | construction projects.
competent. experienced. comprehensive.
Sonntag & Partner has already assisted clients for decades with extensive expertise in all legal and tax matters involving real property. Our multidisciplinary expert teams have long-standing experience in the real estate market, both with regard to residential, commercial, and special-purpose real estate, and also high-value individual properties and large-volume real estate portfolios— ranging from the construction, purchase, or revitalization of a property to its use and management, to a sale or tax-optimized asset succession. Through our client-oriented advisory approach, we can offer owners, investors, and occupants of the property a comprehensive range of consulting and services tailored to their individual requirements.
range of consulting services.
real estate transactions.
private construction and architect law.
public construction law | administration law.
legal asset management.
real estate agency law.
tax law related to real estate.
structuring real property investments | Fund assets.
corporate real estate.
project development | revitalization.
real estate transactions.
When purchasing or selling a real property, one must consider a variety of legal, tax, and economic aspects in order to ensure a smooth execution of the transaction, and to avoid undesirable risks and expenses. We comprehensively advise and assist our clients in a multidisciplinary manner in all phases of a real property transaction (acquisition and sale), by way of an asset or share deal, and also with joint ventures. Our highly specialized teams comprised of attorneys, tax advisors, and where necessary, auditors, have long-standing, extensive experience in assisting with both high-value individual properties, large-volume real estate portfolios, or project developments, and also residential, commercial, and special-purpose real estate.
contract drafting | contract negotiations.
process structuring | process organization.
contract drafting | contract negotiations.
The central element of our involvement in a real estate transaction is drafting, reviewing, and negotiating the purchase agreement and the additional documents relevant for the transaction (e.g. letter of intent, legal authorizations, lease agreements) up until the successful close of the intended purchase and/or sale. In so doing, we of course take into consideration the individual legal and tax requirements with regard to the property and the transaction process, including the interfaces with corporate, investment, and antitrust law.
subject areas.
- Contract drafting | Review and revision of third-party drafts
- Contract negotiation
- Preparation of the relevant documents (e.g. contract attachments)
- Meeting with the recording notary | Attending all negotiations and discussions (e.g. red-flag meeting)
- Coordination of the negotiation and notary recording process
process structuring | process organization.
With our long-standing expertise in structuring and handling complex acquisitions and sale processes for all types of real estate transactions, we offer our clients valuable support and guidance for the optimal preparation and management of a transaction. Because of this, time and cost-intensive influences on the transaction can be avoided at an early stage.
subject areas.
- Concept for the acquisition project and purchase structuring founded in corporate, tax, and where applicable, investment law
- Special-purpose vehicle (SPV) | Joint venture
- Letter of intent | Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
- Structured bidding procedures
- Organization and preparation of a data room
private construction and architect law.
Our specialized attorneys at law and specialist attorneys at law advise and support our clients in all areas of private construction law, the law on contracts for work and services and architect/engineer law. We offer our clients many years of expertise and project-related legal counsel in all phases of the construction and project schedule, e.g. with structural and civil engineering, construction installations/mechanical engineering projects and large-scale projects.
subject areas.
- Contract drafting | Contract review
- Inspection and acceptance
- Settlement of payment | Managing contract addenda
- Impediments and interruptions in the construction process | Insolvency of construction parties
- Construction process | Independent collection of evidence
- Managing defects | Consequences for a contract breach | Contractual penalties
- Warranty claims for defects and compensatory damage claims
services.
- Contract drafting | Contract review
- Counsel during the construction phase
- Examination of invoices for remuneration | Enforcing wage claims
- Enforcement of contractual and statutory claims and rights | Attend to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
public construction law | administration law.
We advise and support our clients in all public construction, environmental, and other administrative law areas. Our specialized consultant attorneys for administrative law have many years of experience in practice-oriented consulting in all legal subject areas, both for the benefit of investors, owners, and companies, and also for the public sector.
subject areas.
- Securing the right to build | Preventing third-party construction
- Urban development and specialized planning procedures (in particular, regional and land-use planning procedures)
- Urban development and other public law contracts
- Administrative and appeal proceedings, proceedings before administrative courts
- Other public law permitting and approval procedures (e.g. restaurant licensing law, rights of special use)
- Monument protection law
- Emission control law
- Development law | Development contributions law
- Contaminated sites and harmful soil alterations
services.
- Contract drafting and contract negotiation of urban development and other public contracts
- Attending approval proceedings and meetings with regulatory authorities
- Public law due diligence
- Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
legal asset management.
Our multidisciplinary expert team comprehensively advises and supports our clients with respect to the applicable law and taxes in the course of the ongoing management of a real estate portfolio, among other things, in (re-) structuring the real estate and tenant portfolio, the legal and tax configuration, negotiations, and processing all real property-related contractual relationships, as well as attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes.
tenancy law | residential and commercial
Condominium law.
management | other service agreements.
Neighborhood law
tenancy law | residential and commercial
The acquisition and operation of a property is generally associated with high costs and investments on the part of the owner, which can often only be compensated by means of leasing over many years. Likewise, tenants often invest substantial amounts for the purpose of leasing and furnishing a leased property and are economically dependent upon maintaining their business operations over the long-term. It is precisely on this backdrop that the professional and legally certain drafting of leases takes on significant importance. We extensively support our clients, both as tenants and also as landlords, in all phases of a tenancy, from its initiation, implementation over (generally) many years, until its termination.
subject areas.
- Leasing, renting, and other contracts for the use of all types of buildings and purposes (e.g. office, commercial, residential, hotel, special-purpose real property)
- Rent increases | Index value clauses | Rent reduction
- Compensatory damage claims
- Maintenance, repair, and cosmetic repair measures
- Modernization
- Operating costs statement
- Expiration | Termination
services.
- Contract drafting | Contract negotiation
- Legal review of lease-related circumstances with a risk analysis and recommended actions
- Enforcement or defense of tenancy law claims and rights on both the tenant and landlord side
- Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
Condominium law.
The division of a property according to the German Condominium Act [Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (WEG)] has a significant impact on the actual and economic use of a building, both in the case of one’s own use, and also for leasing the residences and commercial units. Numerous restrictions, requirements, rights and obligations may follow from the condominium declaration, the community rules, and condominium law provisions for owners, managers and tenants that have a substantial influence on the potential uses and value of the property. Our specialized expert team will advise and support Condominium Act communities, property managers, and owners in all areas of WEG law.
subject areas.
- Establishing the homeowner association | Condominium declaration, community rules and management agreement
- Annual budgets and annual account statements
- Owners' meetings and resolutions | Contesting resolutions
- Maintenance, repair, and modernization measures
- Interfaces with building contract law (in particular, inspection and acceptance and claims for deficiencies in common property)
- Legal counsel for all WEG legal situations
- Enforcement or defense of claims within the WEG and against third parties |
- Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
management | other service agreements.
The competent and experienced management of a real estate portfolio is an important factor for the success of a real estate investment. We advise and support our clients in the development, negotiation, review, and processing of administrator and management agreements, as well as all other real estate-related service and supply contracts, (e.g. property and facility management agreements, operating agreements, contracting agreements).
subject areas.
- Contract drafting | Contract negotiation | Contract negotiation
- Enforcing or defending claims
- Attend to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
Neighborhood law
- Public law issues (including building planning law, distance zones, fire protection, immission control)
- Support in extrajudicial and judicial disputes
- Enforcement of or defense against (building) permits
- Legal proceedings against statutes and regulations (e.g. development plans)
- Neighbor agreements
- Civil law issues (e.g. boundary extensions, overbuilding, easements)
real estate agency law.
The participation of a real estate broker is often an important and cost-sensitive component of real estate transactions and plans to lease out/rent a property. We advise and represent our clients, mainly real property and real estate companies in the commercial real property sector, in all matters surrounding real estate agency law.
subject areas.
- Broker contract | Broker clauses in general terms and conditions
- Information and consulting duties
- Commission claims
- Competition law
- Tax consequences
services.
- Contract drafting | Contract negotiation | Contract negotiation
- Enforcing or defending claims
- Legal counsel with regard to real estate agency law situations
- Enforcement or defense of claims | Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
tax law related to real estate.
Our experienced experts advise and support our clients in purchasing and selling real estate, in structuring the real estate investment, and in the ongoing, tax-optimized management of real property. Our expertise includes, in particular, value added tax and business tax questions, and the tax declaration obligations for investment structures.
services.
- Review, drafting, and negotiating tax provisions in purchase and sale agreements, leases, etc.
- Tax assessments | Audit support
- Tax due diligence (in particular, value added tax, business taxes, real property transfer tax, property tax)
- Tax-efficient structuring of real estate investments and their financing
- Tax-optimized exit strategies
- Asset succession
value added tax.
business tax.
value added tax.
Consulting with respect to value added tax questions in connection with the acquisition, use and sale of real property.
subject areas.
- Selling a business as a whole vs. real property deliveries
- Opting for the value added tax in the case of leasing and sales
- Input tax deduction and input tax adjustment
services.
- Value added tax law qualification of deliveries
- Tax-efficient formulation and negotiation of leases and purchase agreements
- Representation towards fiscal authorities
- Processing tax return obligations and ongoing value added tax counsel
- Business tax risks as a result of industrial premises and/or failure of the expanded property deduction for business tax purposes
business tax.
Minimizing the risk of a business tax burden.
services.
- Consulting with respect to a tax-efficient transaction structure
- Hedging transaction tax risks
- Ensuring the claim for the expanded deduction for property with respect to business tax during the use and sale of a property
structuring real property investments | Fund assets.
We advise institutional investors with regard to the law and taxation in structuring real property investments, as well as open-end and closed-end fund assets. Our multidisciplinary team made up of tax consultants, auditors, and attorneys at law has comprehensive expertise of many years, in particular, in the area of investment law (e.g. special AIF under the German Capital Investment Act [KAGB], Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive [AIFM]) and antitrust law.
subject areas.
- Fund structuring | Organization of other investment vehicles
- Supervisory law | AIFM Directive | KAGB consulting
- Tax declaration obligations for investment structures
- Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
corporate real estate.
The active and results-oriented management of corporate real estate is increasingly gaining in strategic and economic importance. The focus of our consulting lies in recognizing and realizing potential to increase value and tax advantages, optimizing cash flow, and the long-term minimization of real estate costs.
subject areas.
- Purchase and sale of corporate real estate
- Sale and lease-back model
- Portfolio management
- Legal asset management
project development | revitalization.
In the case of project development, diverse contractual relationships and legal requirements must be considered and carefully coordinated and implemented in order to ensure the success of the project. We support our clients with our extensive legal and tax expertise in all phases and forms of project development (new construction or revitalizing an existing property). Through our multidisciplinary range of consulting, we can perform a valuable contribution for the successful and prompt implementation of project development, starting with the preparatory legal examinations and structuring the project, acquiring the property, and lawful implementation of the construction up until its subsequent marketing.
project preparation | project structuring.
project realization.
project preparation | project structuring.
We assist our clients already at the start of planning in the preparation and legal structure for project development, including the corporate and tax law concept as well as drafting and negotiating the project contracts.
subject areas.
- Securing and acquiring the property
- Property and construction law requirements
- Tax and corporate law structuring | Asset-holding entity, Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
- Joint venture contract | Integration of capital investors
project realization.
We advise and support our clients with regard to the law during the entire project realization phase, from obtaining the construction and planning rights up until inspection and acceptance of the construction project and managing warranties.
services.
- Contract drafting | Contract negotiations
- Managing addenda and defects
- Enforcing contractual and statutory claims | Attending to extrajudicial and judicial disputes
- Construction and law
- Construction, architect and engineering contracts
- “Drawing board” leasing
- Implementing the construction project
focus of performance.
we synergize expertise.
archiv.
tags.
Sonntag & Partner
Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB
Wirtschaftsprüfer, Steuerberater, Rechtsanwälte
Schertlinstraße 23
86159 Augsburg
Telefon: +49 821 57058-0
Telefax: +49 821 57058-153
Augsburg +49 821 57058-0 Munich +49 89 2554434-0 Ulm +49 731 96644-0 Nuremberg +49 911 81511-0
Locations
more than