ErbenakteThe value of the inherited house is disputed: which values there are
Checked on 11.11.2026
Translated from German. Where anything differs, the German text counts: Deutsche Fassung
One heir names a figure from an estate agent, another a valuation from years ago, a third the land value. All have a source, and all calculate with something different.
The kinds of values
- An estate agent's estimate. Often free and quick. It is an opinion on the achievable price, not a valuation, and an agent who wants to sell has an interest of their own.
- The market value report. By a publicly appointed and sworn expert, or by the municipality's valuation committee (Gutachterausschuss). It costs money, usually depending on the value, and it gives reasons for its figure.
- The standard land value (Bodenrichtwert). The average value of the land in a location, published by the valuation committees (BORIS). It says nothing about the house on it, neither its condition nor its age.
- A concrete offer. What someone would really pay, on one day. It shows the market, but only a slice of it.
Which value counts for a payout or a division the heirs decide together; in a dispute a lawyer or a court assesses it. Who pays for a valuation that only one heir ordered is also a question of the individual case.
What helps
- Every value with source and date. Who named it, when, on what basis. A value from five years ago is a different value.
- Order together. A valuation everyone agreed on beforehand is questioned less often later than one that one side commissioned alone.
- Calculate with several values. Once the options are worked out with the lowest and the highest value, it becomes visible how much the dispute about the figure actually amounts to.