Ordering principle: What will change for tenants from July 1, 2023?
In Germany, it has already been in practice since 2015, and in Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium, the Bestellerprinzip has also long been established. On 1 July it is introduced now also in Austria and at the real estate market for some changes provide, how Benedikt Gabriel and Bernd Gabel Hlawa, founders of FindMyHome.atknow.
not only advantages for tenants.
For the time being, the final decision to apply the Bestellerprinzip in Austria was accompanied by positive reactions. After all, and this is the good news, from July 1, 2023, for all those who are looking for a property to rent without having hired someone to look for it, the brokerage commissions will be eliminated – these have been a maximum of two gross months’ rent since 2010. In the future, only those who purchase will pay – i.e. a landlord or owner who wants to rent out an apartment or a person looking for an apartment who engages a real estate agent in the course of a search.
Example Germany: Landlords dispense with brokers
So far, so good. If it weren’t for the rat’s tail of issues that the Bestellerprinzip entails. And which will make it neither easier nor cheaper to find the right place to stay in the future. To grasp this, it is enough to look to Germany, where the principle has already been in place since 2015. Ebendort, knows Bernd Gabel-Hlawa, CEO and founder of the Austrian real estate platform “FindMyHome.at”, “many landlords have dispensed with the service of the broker. Which has the consequence that brokers focus ostensibly on the sales of real estates, to which the orderer principle does not apply.”
Less education, less transparency
And this, Gabel-Hlawa says, has far-reaching consequences. “The convenient and transparent digital supply market on the platforms will diminish, and with the loss of mutual representation of interests, the clarification of the Consumer Protection Act is also eliminated when the broker represents the landlord.” After all, the broker usually takes care of the rental contract, the careful handling of the deposit, change and deregistration, and much more, in addition to the brokerage. Gabel-Hlawa names the expected consequences as follows:
- Old tenants take care of new tenants with the consent of the landlord and award the contract to the best bidder of the transfer.
- Rental listings end up in unverified channels like private social media communities.
- Rental prices rise due to best-bid offers.
- The principle of “who knows whom” is coming back into fashion, which is hitting national and international immigrants in the cities particularly hard.
- In the future, many landlords will also factor the higher unilateral broker commission into the rental offer.
Like at the bazaar
What sounds so tempting in principle for all seekers can clearly backfire, as Gabel-Hlawa suspects. “Rental properties in the low and medium price segments will become economically unattractive for many brokerage firms to broker with the new regulation. As a result, more listings will be offered with property owners’ price preferences instead of prices in line with the market. This also leads to uncertainty among tenants. In other words, like at a bazaar, you no longer know what is right and wrong.
And how will the new solution affect the relationship between tenant:in and broker:in? Gabel-Hlawa: “I always think positively, therefore I hope that real estate owners and searchers with the new regulation better estimate and learn to estimate the versatile achievements of a qualitative broker and are ready as orderers to pay duly. We as Austria’s quality platform continue to strive, and more than ever, to ensure transparency and a comprehensive real estate offering with verified providers.”
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