§4.4.2 Issues specific to immovable property

Whilst immovable property is traditionally regulated at national level, some important aspects thereof are, since March 2016, regulated at EU level (433). The UCPD’s general rules typically complement both sector-specific EU law, as well as national, sometimes stricter, rules. There are some issues specific to the application of the Directive to this sector. Indeed, many consumers invest in real estate as an alternative to a pension fund. They buy a property with a view to letting it and receive rent instead of receiving interest as they would have done if investing in a financial product. This raises questions as to how the notion of ‘consumer’ applies to real estate buyers. Under Article 2(a) of the Directive, any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession will qualify as a consumer. Consequently, the fact that a natural person buys an immovable property for investment purposes should not affect his status as a consumer, as long as this is done outside the person’s professional activities. Therefore, the Directive will apply and protect, for instance, such a buyer who is misled by a real estate developer over the purchase. For example: A teacher in Germany decides to buy two flats in a holiday complex in Spain in order to rent them to other people and, at a later point in time, retire in Spain. As long as they do this outside their professional activities, they will qualify as a consumer under the Directive in relation to his flats in Spain. The notion of ‘trader’ may apply to landlords. Under Article 2(b) of the Directive, any natural or legal person qualifies as a trader if they are acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession . Consequently, the mere fact that a person lets an apartment or a house to somebody else should not make that person automatically qualify as a trader vis-à-vis their tenant. However, if that person receives an essential part of his/her income from renting apartments to other people, that person could in certain circumstances be considered a trader under the UCPD (see also section 2.2 on the concept of the trader). Finally, in view of the importance and uniqueness of the decision that consumers make when purchasing immovable property, traders should pay particular attention to complying with the information requirements in Article 6 and 7 UCPD. In the context of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive, the Court has insisted on the importance of a family home as a fundamental right (434). For example: — Consumers that have bought apartments in certain property development projects have found that after the buildings were finished, the apartments were connected neither to a water supply nor to electricity. Information that this would be the case would be likely to qualify as material information in relation to the ‘main characteristics of the product’ both under Article 6(1)(b) and 7(4)(a) UCPD. The fact that an additional service would be necessary to connect the apartment to these facilitates could also be material under Article 6(1)(e). — The surface area of an immovable property could qualify as material information under Articles 6(1)(a), 6(1)(b) and 7(4)(a). — The price of the property including VAT and all unavoidable charges, such as the selling agent or broker’s commission, would be material information under Article 7(4)(c).

← 4.4.1 · All articles · 4.4.3 →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07