Property Valuation Requires Checking Construction Documents

Jun 20, 2025 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, hereinafter OGH) has recently clarified that a professional valuation of a property must include checking access to the construction documents

In his will dated August 2017, the father of the parties to the dispute appointed the defendant as the sole heir and ordered the reduction of the plaintiff’s compulsory inheritance portion to half. In a transfer agreement dated July 2020, he transferred his property and the residential building on it to the defendant.

Inspection of the construction documents

In the ensuing present step-by-step action, the plaintiff requested that the valuation of the property and several firearms be done and that the resulting compulsory portion be paid. The defendant made the plaintiff an offer to agree to the inspections and valuation of the property once within the next six months. However, the valuation failed because the defendant did not authorize the expert to inspect the construction documents.

The court of first instance upheld the claim and obliged the defendant to tolerate the valuation of the property and the firearms. The court of appeal amended the decision so that the action was dismissed in its entirety. The OGH restored the first judgment, emphasizing the following:

Property valuation must include inspection of the construction documents

Since the value of a property essentially depends on whether the building on it complies with the building permit granted and any official requirements and regulations, a professional valuation of such a property requires the inspection of the construction documents. The defendant’s promise to tolerate an appraisal of the property by an expert is therefore to be understood according to bona fide opinion and considering the purpose of the agreement, to mean that the expert shall not only be allowed to inspect the premises and property, but also the construction documents.

Since the defendant refused to allow the expert to inspect the building file and thus deliberately thwarted the valuation, it is irrelevant that she had limited her permission to inspection in the present proceedings to a valuation date within the following six months. The invocation of the expiry of a deadline is contrary to good faith if the obligor themself prevents compliance with the deadline.

OGH 2 Ob 39/25m (29 April 2025)