An area screening compares, for every dwelling in a portfolio, the area from the lease with the area resulting from the as-built plan, and so finds the units where a survey is worthwhile. It replaces no measurement – it decides where to measure. The trigger is BGH case law: in tenancy law, the actual living area counts.
In short
- Three figures per dwelling: contractual area, plan area, surveyed area – only the last is evidence.
- Since 2015 for rent increases and since 2018 for service charges, the BGH relies on the actual area, with no tolerance.
- The screening sorts by deviation and confidence; the survey follows where both stand out.
Definition
| Date | Decision | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| 24 March 2004 | BGH VIII ZR 295/03 | If the living area is more than 10 % below the agreed area, that is a defect; the tenant may reduce the rent. |
| 18 November 2015 | BGH VIII ZR 266/14 | For a rent increase under § 558 BGB, the actual living area counts; the 10 % tolerance no longer applies to it. |
| 30 May 2018 | BGH VIII ZR 220/17 | Service charges are apportioned by the actual living area; there is no tolerance. |
A screening runs in four steps: determine the plan area per dwelling under WoFlV from the archive plans – room by room, with standard and plan revision; compare it with the contractual area from ERP or lease; sort by deviation (absolute and per cent) and by confidence of the plan evaluation; commission a survey for the dwellings that stand out and write the result back to room book and ERP.
Distinction
| Criterion | Contractual area | Plan area | Surveyed area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | lease, ERP | as-built plan, calculated under WoFlV | measurement on site |
| Reliability | agreement, not state | working basis as of the plan revision | evidence |
| Effort | already available | minutes per plan | hours per dwelling |
In practice
Occasions are the service charge statement, the rent adjustment, reporting to the rent index, acquisition or disposal with due diligence, and the initial population of a CAFM system. The honest limit: the plan area is only as good as the plan. The height-dependent crediting under § 4 WoFlV needs a section or a survey, and a plan from before the last conversion shows rooms that no longer exist. That is why the screening is a triage tool: it does not say how large a dwelling is, but for which dwellings the question is open.
Normraum relevance
For an area screening, Normraum supplies the plan area per room under WoFlV or DIN 277 from the archive plan – individually or as a batch, summable per floor plan – with confidence and source reference. The portfolio owner runs the comparison with the contractual area in their own list; Normraum supplies the column that is missing there. Where plan and lease diverge or the confidence is low, the survey is the next step – Normraum does not replace it.