Not legal advice. This page gives an orienting overview of German trade-law requirements for real estate agents. For binding information, contact your competent IHK (chamber of commerce) or a lawyer.
What does Section 34c GewO regulate?
Section 34c of the German Trade Regulation (Gewerbeordnung, GewO) governs the commercial trading of real estate and the brokerage of properties and rental objects in Germany. Anyone working commercially as a real estate agent needs an official license under Section 34c GewO.
The license is granted by the competent authority (usually the local regulatory office or trade office) upon written application. The IHK maintains the publicly accessible register of licensed traders under Section 34c.
Requirements for the license
The authority checks the following requirements:
Reliability
You must not have been convicted of certain crimes (fraud, breach of trust, insolvency offenses etc.) within the past five years. A police clearance certificate and an extract from the central trade register must be submitted.
Orderly financial circumstances
No insolvency proceedings may be running against your assets, or have run within the past five years.
Professional liability insurance
Since 2018 professional liability insurance has been required by law (Section 34c para. 2 no. 3 GewO in conjunction with Section 15 MaBV). The minimum insured sums are:
| Per claim | Per year in total |
|---|---|
| 1,230,000 EUR | 1,850,000 EUR |
Proof of insurance must be provided with the application and maintained afterwards.
Continuing education under the MaBV
The German Broker and Property Developer Regulation (MaBV) has required continuing education since 2018: 20 hours within three years, spread across recognized training measures. Proof must be provided to the competent authority on request.
Recognized training providers include the IHKs, real estate associations (IVD, Ring Deutscher Makler) and licensed distance-learning institutes.
IHK registration
After the license is granted you are automatically entered into the IHK broker register. This register is publicly accessible. Your clients can check at vermittlerregister.info whether your license is active.
Your IHK number should appear in your business documents (letterhead, website, exposés). Even though this is not explicitly required by law, it builds trust.
How the platform relates to this
The platform is a software tool, not a substitute for the trade license. You must apply for and maintain the Section 34c GewO license yourself with the competent authority.
What the platform supports:
- Digital management of access data and exposé documents. It does not release you from your trade-law duties.
- Audit logs of all tool usage can serve as supplementary documentation during official reviews, but they do not replace the mandatory documentation under the MaBV.
- GDPR-compliant processing of client data: see GDPR for agents.
Further sources
- IHK finder: ihk.de, search for "34c Erlaubnis" to find your competent IHK
- Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs: bmwk.de, trade law section
- MaBV (Broker and Property Developer Regulation): full text at gesetze-im-internet.de
- IVD federal association: ivd.net, continuing education and professional law