You need a license if you want to offer the following services on a commercial basis:  

• Real estate brokerage  
• Brokerage of loan agreements (except for consumer real estate loans),  
• The management of residential real estate or condominium properties  
• The planning or execution of construction projects in your own name or on behalf of others.

Accordingly, you must apply for a license if, for example, you wish to engage in any of the following activities:  

• Brokerage of real estate and rights equivalent to real estate; brokerage of the sale, encumbrance, rental, or leasing of real estate, condominium ownership, and contracts for mortgages and land charges;  
• Brokerage of commercial and residential spaces, i.e., all types of space leases, including leases and subleases, and thus also apartment and room brokerage (except for accommodation brokerage).  
• Brokerage of loans (excluding real estate financing for consumers).  
• Planning or executing construction projects using third-party assets (e.g., assets of tenants, leaseholders, or other authorized users, or of applicants for purchase or usage rights). In this context, it makes no difference whether you act in your own name vis-à-vis contractual partners (as a developer) or whether you make it clear that you are acting on behalf of a third party (as a construction manager). Examples include submitting a building permit application, hiring architects and tradespeople, as well as securing and drawing down financing, taking out insurance policies, calculating future rent, etc.  
• Management of rented apartments or the common property of apartment owners as defined by the Condominium Act. You are considered a property manager, for example, if you   

• implement decisions made by the condominium owners and ensure compliance with the house rules;  
• take the necessary measures for the proper maintenance and repair of the common property;  
• arrange for and receive all payments and services related to the day-to-day management of the common property;  
• manage the funds collected.  

No license is required for:  

• Credit institutions that have been granted a license under the German Banking Act (KWG) and their branches, which constitute separate legal entities.  
• Capital management companies that have been granted a license under the Capital Investment Code.  
• Businesses that merely arrange loans to finance the sale of goods or the provision of services they offer, or that can demonstrate the opportunity to conclude such contracts;  
• Branches of companies headquartered in another Member State of the European Union that are permitted under the German Banking Act (KWG) to act as intermediaries for loans between credit institutions, provided that their activities under the German Trade Regulation Act (Gewerbeordnung) are limited to the intermediation of loans between credit institutions; and  
• the conclusion of contracts for the timeshare use of residential buildings within the meaning of the Civil Code or the brokering of such contracts.  

To act as an intermediary for real estate consumer loan agreements, you need a separate license under the Trade Regulation Act. Real estate consumer loan agreements are loan agreements for consideration between a business operator as the lender and a consumer as the borrower.  

• You possess the reliability required for conducting a business. As a rule, you do not possess this reliability if you have been convicted within the last 5 years of a criminal offense listed in § 34c(2)(1) of the Trade Regulation Act (GewO). 
• Your financial circumstances are in order: No insolvency proceedings have been initiated against your assets, nor have any such proceedings been dismissed due to lack of assets.  
• If you wish to work as a residential property manager, you need professional liability insurance covering at least EUR 500,000 per claim and EUR 1,000,000 for all claims in a given year. 

Once you have submitted your application and all required documents are complete, the responsible agency will review whether you meet all the requirements.

If you meet all the requirements, you will receive the permit.  

​ You may not begin the activity until you have received the permit.

At the same time you begin your business activities, you must register the business with the authority responsible for business registrations in accordance with § 14 of the German Trade Regulation Act (GewO). ​  

Only applicable to real estate agents and property managers: 

While performing your duties, you are required to complete 20 hours of continuing education within a period of three calendar years. The same applies accordingly to employees who are directly involved in activities requiring a license. If you have obtained a training qualification as a real estate agent or a further training qualification as a certified real estate specialist, the further training obligation only begins three years after obtaining the respective qualification. You must keep proof of further training for five years and present it to the competent authority upon request.  

As a construction supervisor and property developer, you are required by the Real Estate Agent and Property Developer Ordinance to carry out an annual audit.  

As a real estate agent, property developer, and construction supervisor, you have special accounting, recording, information, and reporting obligations.  

Only for property managers:  

You must maintain professional liability insurance of at least €500,000 for each insured event and €1,000,000 for all insured events in a year. ​ 

The permit must be granted before operations commence.

If you have applied for a permit to work as a real estate agent, property developer, construction supervisor, or residential property manager, the permit is deemed to have been granted if the authority has not decided on your application within three months of receiving the complete documents (Section 42 (2) sentence 2 of the Administrative Procedure Act) (Section 6a (1) of the Trade Regulation Act).  

You must notify the authority responsible for business registrations of the start of your activity at the same time. ​ 

The local trade office is responsible for this.

You can find information about the required documents and the corresponding application forms in the "Forms, Information Sheets, Links" section.

Depends on the respective administrative fee regulations of the state or on the fee statutes of the authorities responsible under state law.  

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