Bauträger payment plans: when should you pay for an unfinished apartment?

When you buy an apartment off-plan from a German developer (Bauträger), you normally pay nothing until the notary confirms that your purchase is secured, and after that only for construction stages that are actually finished. The Makler- und Bauträgerverordnung (MaBV, the regulation governing developers) sets both rules: four conditions before the first payment, then up to seven instalments, each capped at a fixed share of the price. At every instalment, check that the stage is complete, that the amount is within the cap, and that your lender has what it needs to pay.

This guide covers the Bauträger payment schedule itself; the whole purchase sequence is in buying a rental apartment, step by step.

The rules apply to a business that builds as developer in its own name using buyers' money (§ 34c(1) no. 3(a) GewO) and is to transfer the land, or a leasehold (Erbbaurecht), to you (§ 3(1) MaBV). In civil law this is a developer contract (Bauträgervertrag) (§ 650u(1) BGB). The developer can demand instalments only as agreed under the government's instalment regulation (§ 650v BGB), and that regulation points back to the MaBV: stage payments under § 3(2) once the § 3(1) conditions are met, or a different arrangement backed by a § 7 guarantee (§ 1 AbschlagsV). The developer cannot exclude or limit these duties by contract (§ 12 MaBV).

They do not apply to a finished flat bought from a private seller, where you pay the whole price once, after the notary's due-date notice (Fälligkeitsmitteilung). Within the developer regime, three variants matter:

• Leasehold: the first instalment is capped at 20 per cent rather than 30 (§ 3(2) MaBV).
• **Renovation of an existing building (Altbau):** the same percentages apply, but the share for work already done can be taken once the § 3(1) conditions are met.
• An apartment already complete when you sign: ask the notary which payment rules the contract follows.

The developer may not accept or use any of your money until all four are met (§ 3(1) MaBV):

1. An effective contract. The contract is legally effective, the approvals needed to carry it out exist, the notary confirms both in writing, and the developer has no contractual right to withdraw.
2. A registered priority notice. A priority notice (Vormerkung) securing your claim to ownership is in the land register at the agreed rank. For an apartment, the building's division into apartment ownership must also be registered.
3. Release from the developer's charges. Release from land charges ranking ahead of your notice, typically the developer's bank's global charge (Globalgrundschuld), is secured, even if the building is never finished, and the release documents (Freistellungserklärung) are handed to you. If the project is not completed, the bank may instead repay what you paid under the schedule, up to your apartment's proportional value.
4. Permission to build. The building permit has been granted. Where none is required, the authority confirms that building may start; where the rules provide for no such confirmation, the developer confirms it, and at least a month must pass after you receive that confirmation.

The notary's written notice on approvals, priority notice and release is, in one notary's words, the "starting signal" for the stage payments, provided the developer has also shown the building permit (Notar Klein, Öhringen).

The guarantee alternative. Under § 7 MaBV, the developer is released from § 3(1) and (2) if it provides security for all your possible claims to have your payments returned. That security must be a guarantee (Bürgschaft) from a public body, a bank or an insurer licensed in Germany (§ 2(2) MaBV, applied by § 7(1)), kept in place until the § 3(1) conditions are met and the apartment is fully completed. It secures repayment, not completion. Have a lawyer read its wording.

Once the conditions are met, the developer may take the price in up to seven instalments as construction progresses, built from these percentages (§ 3(2) MaBV):

These are maximums: a contract may ask for less, not more. A stage that does not arise is spread proportionally over the others. Contracts group the thirteen stages into at most seven instalments, and a grouped instalment is earned only when every stage in it is finished. One notary adds that full completion includes outdoor areas and remedying defects recorded at acceptance, and that a schedule departing from the MaBV to the buyer's disadvantage is void as a whole, leaving the price due only on acceptance (Notar Klein; § 641(1) BGB).

A consumer is entitled, at the first instalment, to security of 5 per cent of the total price for timely completion without significant defects (§ 650m(2) BGB). This applies to developer contracts: § 650u(2) excludes only § 650m(1), and the instalment regulation applies § 650m(2) and (3) expressly. If the developer asks, the security takes the form of you holding back that amount from the instalments; otherwise, it can be a guarantee from a bank or credit insurer (§ 650m(3) BGB). Whether you count as a consumer (§ 13 BGB) is a question for your lawyer.

Illustrative example. Fictional figures, not a real project, contract or offer. Apartment B from our new-build comparison: Leipzig, 50 m², bought off-plan from a developer for €250,000 as freehold apartment ownership. Contract notarised Thursday 6 March 2025; handover and transfer of benefits and burdens 1 November 2026. Stages grouped into six instalments, at the statutory maximum, on article 20's planned months. Loan €225,000 (90 per cent of the price); €25,000 own funds go first. Purchase costs of €18,750 are paid from savings and are not shown. The developer provides the 5 per cent security as a bank guarantee, so instalments are paid in full. A consumer purchase is assumed.

The percentages match article 20's table and § 3(2) MaBV. The dates are a plan: each instalment moves with the work, not the calendar.

Had the developer asked for retention instead of a guarantee, you would hold back €12,500 from the first instalment and pay €62,500 (€25,000 own funds, €37,500 loan). The contract should state when the retained amount is released.

Your loan agreement lists payout conditions (Auszahlungsvoraussetzungen), typically including registration of the bank's land charge (Grundschuld), with your own funds used first (Dr. Klein, payout conditions; Dr. Klein, construction progress). For a developer purchase, DZ HYP also asks for the notary's notice, the developer's release undertaking, payment requests and progress evidence (DZ HYP). Some lenders send their own expert to the site (Dr. Klein). Ask whether your lender pays the developer on your instruction or credits your account.

Under the statutory model, the developer's written notice of the stage is enough to request an instalment; no architect's certificate is required, but you should have time, about ten days according to one notary, to check it (Notar Klein). If your lender wants a progress report, agree before signing who will provide it. Costs then run on two tracks: interest on amounts already drawn, charged before full payout (Dr. Klein), and, once the commitment-free period ends, commitment interest (Bereitstellungszinsen) on the undrawn rest. A delayed stage keeps more of the loan undrawn for longer (Dr. Klein). Budgeting for Bereitstellungszinsen models delays.

Alpha Minoris's Buyer's Agent service can coordinate this paperwork for a purchase in Berlin, Dresden or Leipzig, collecting the notary's notice, payment requests and progress evidence so that developer, lender and you work from the same documents. You need not live in the city. Whether and how much to pay stays with you, your lawyer and your construction expert; Alpha Minoris does not inspect work or give legal advice.

The stage is not finished. The instalment is not due. Money paid early because the developer misstated progress can be reclaimed, according to the notary page (Notar Klein).

The stage is finished, but with defects. You may refuse to pay an appropriate part of the instalment, and until acceptance the developer must prove the work meets the contract (§ 632a(1) BGB). The appropriate part is usually twice the cost of remedying the defect (§ 641(3) BGB, applied by § 632a(1)). The rest of the instalment remains due.

Illustrative example, continuing Apartment B. At instalment 4 (€22,750), an independent expert finds defective bathroom tiling and estimates the remedy at €1,500. Withholding twice that, €3,000, you would pay €19,750 and ask the lender to release that amount. The €3,000 stays undrawn, so commitment interest may run on it.

Withholding is not a negotiating tool: hold back money without a legal basis and you risk default (Verzug) on it (§ 286 BGB). First get the expert's written findings and cost estimate and a lawyer's view, then tell the developer in writing what you are holding back and why.

• Notary: drafts the contract and confirms the § 3(1) conditions; does not check construction.
• Lawyer, ideally a construction-law specialist: the payment plan, any § 7 or § 650m guarantee and any withholding.
• **Independent construction expert (Bausachverständiger):** checks each stage before you release money and attends acceptance; see defects checks at Abnahme.
• Lender or broker: payout conditions, the commitment-free period and the evidence needed for each drawdown.

None of this protects against a developer that cannot finish; the MaBV does not secure the general completion risk (Notar Klein). Assessing the developer behind a project covers that risk.

If you are weighing an off-plan apartment, compare its payment plan with your savings and your lender's drawdown conditions before you sign. Discuss your first rental property with Alpha Minoris.