Get Your Documents in Order Before Renovating Your Apartment!

Home renovation is something most of us encounter at some point in our lives. Many renovation tasks can be done in an apartment without coordinating with neighbors, but there are also a number of activities where you should start with paperwork before picking up a hammer.

Of course, you can paint walls or change wallpaper in your apartment without asking your neighbor's permission. For larger renovation plans, you should definitely get consent from your neighbors and register the changes made during the renovation in the building registry.

Some renovations are (the following list is not exhaustive):

• changing the room layout of an apartment, for example demolishing the wall between the toilet and bathroom or creating one more spacious room from several small ones;
• replacing the heating system, for example installing an air-source heat pump;
• enclosing a balcony.

First, contact your local municipality

From your local municipality's building specialist, you can find out what work is permitted in your apartment and what documentation you need for your planned renovation. For example, if you want to remove walls, you need to find out which walls in the building are load-bearing and then modify the apartment's plans accordingly.

The municipality's building specialist will guide you further on which works require consent from your neighbors. If there is an apartment association operating in the building, one option to obtain resident consent is to contact the apartment association. One thing is certain: the consent must be in writing. An oral confirmation from a neighbor in the stairwell during casual conversation that they allow you to remove walls in your apartment is naturally not sufficient.

Documentation in order

Once the renovation work is done, the building registry data should be brought into line with reality. For example, if you install an air-source heat pump in your apartment, this change must also be reflected in the building registry.

Why make things so complicated when a skilled craftsman can do the construction work properly even without paperwork?

There is a very simple reason for this: the absence of documents can affect the apartment's price and in the event of an insurance claim, the insurance company may not compensate damage to an electrical system you have modified yourself. When a bank conducts an inspection, it also checks whether the documentation of the property being purchased is in order. If you buy or sell an apartment where renovation work has already been done, the data in the building registry must match reality. Of course, a discrepancy between reality and documents does not automatically mean you cannot get a loan secured by such an apartment, but it will likely make the purchase and sale process longer, as the apartment's documentation first needs to be put in order.

Simple advice for apartment hunters too

If you come across an interestingly renovated apartment that you would like to purchase, ask the seller immediately whether the construction work has been properly documented. An answer of "yes" gives reason to believe that at least in this respect, obtaining a loan for the apartment will be smoother.