Certificate of self-containment (Abgeschlossenheitsbescheinigung)

The certificate of self-containment (Abgeschlossenheitsbescheinigung) is the building authority's official confirmation that a flat or commercial space is self-contained. Without it, the land registry will not register a condominium unit or a commercial unit (Section 7(4) WEG). Together with the division plan, the drawings that number every unit, it forms the technical basis of the declaration of division (Teilungserklärung).

When a flat counts as self-contained

The meaning of self-contained comes from a federal administrative regulation from 1974. Walls and ceilings must separate the flat from other people's rooms, and it needs its own lockable entrance, from the stairwell, a lobby or directly from outside. A kitchen or cooking facility, a water supply, a sink and a WC must be inside the flat. Cellar rooms or storage rooms outside the flat can belong to it if they can be locked. Since the 2020 WEG reform, open-air parking spaces can also be separate ownership, provided their area is defined by measurements in the division plan (Section 3(1) and (3) WEG). Garage spaces already qualified before that.

An old building does not have to meet today's sound insulation and fire safety standards for this. The Joint Senate of the Federal Supreme Courts settled that in 1992. The certificate also says nothing about whether a use has planning permission. An attic drawn as a flat in the plan does not become a legal flat because of the certificate.

From application to a separate land register sheet

You apply to the lower building supervisory authority of the city or district. Some states also allow publicly appointed experts to issue the certificate. You submit floor plans of every storey, sections and elevations, with each unit and all its ancillary rooms marked with the same number. The authority checks the plans, often with a site visit, and seals them. The fee is set by state law and usually rises with the number of units.

With the certificate and the plans you go to a notary. The owner makes the declaration of division, the notary certifies the signature, and the land registry opens a separate condominium or commercial unit register for every unit. In tight housing markets, conversion may need approval, under Section 250 BauGB or in a social preservation area under Section 172 BauGB. When the first flat is sold to a third party after conversion, the tenant already living there has a statutory right of first refusal (Section 577 BGB).

Where divisions fail later

Trouble usually starts where the division plan does not match the building as built. A cellar room is assigned to the wrong flat, or the WC of the attic flat sits out on the landing. Another classic is a wall opening made after the division that connects two flats and removes the self-containment of both. Such errors often surface only on sale, when the buyer or their bank compares the plans with the building. To correct them you usually need the cooperation of the owners affected, an amended certificate and a new entry in the land register. Check the plan against the house room by room before the notary appointment.