Pascal Szorath
Operator of ZVG Melder
Pascal Szorath has run ZVG Melder as a sole proprietorship since August 2026 and writes the guides on this blog.
How the guides are sourced
The guides on the procedure rely on the statute and link the key sections to gesetze-im-internet.de. Every article shows its publication date and, if it was revised, the date of its last update.
How ZVG Melder evaluates official data and appraisals is described on the methodology page. Read the methodology
The guides explain the procedure and are no substitute for legal advice.
Please send notes about errors to kontakt@zvg-melder.de.
Articles by Pascal Szorath
- Compulsory auctions for beginners: the full process in 8 steps
Bidding at a compulsory auction for the first time? This guide walks you step by step through everything – from finding a property to financing, the security deposit and the award.
- Reviewing a property before a compulsory auction: appraisal, land register and hidden risks
At a compulsory auction you buy with no warranty and often without an interior inspection. What to check in the appraisal, the land register and the occupancy before you bid.
- Financing a compulsory auction: how the bank sets your bid limit
The court only checks the 10% deposit, not your creditworthiness. Your bank sets your real bid limit. Here's how financing works and what default risks.
- Security deposit at a compulsory auction: 10%, deadlines and how to lodge it
If you want to bid at a compulsory auction, you usually have to lodge 10% of the market value as security in advance, and not in cash. Here is how it works.
- Bidding by power of attorney – why it must be notarised
If you bid for someone else – even your spouse – you need a publicly certified bidding authorisation. Without it at the hearing, your bid is rejected.
- The auction hearing step by step: bidding time, lowest bid, award
ZVG Melder explains how an auction hearing runs: the call, the lowest admissible bid, at least 30 minutes of bidding time, the ID requirement – and why the award grants ownership at once.
- The five-tenths and seven-tenths thresholds explained simply
Below 50%, the award is refused ex officio at the first hearing; between 50 and 70% only on a creditor's motion. At the second hearing, both thresholds fall away.
- After the award: payment, interest, taxes and the risks you take on
With the award you become owner. Plan payment, interest and taxes, and review tenancies, surviving rights and specific payment obligations to the owners' association.
- Compulsory auction: what differs by federal state?
The auction procedure is identical nationwide – the one major difference is the real estate transfer tax (3.5% to 6.5%). Here are all 16 rates and what else varies.
- How we determine risk classes for compulsory auctions
ZVG Melder detects risk findings from official appraisals, structures them into classes and shows how strong the data basis is.
- Compulsory auction portals compared, 2026
Where compulsory auctions are officially published and what eight private portals add on top: cost, hearings visible without an account, access to the appraisal, saved searches and maps – checked on 18 August 2026.
- Partition auction (Teilungsversteigerung): process, costs and your options
Partition auctions in divorce or inheritance cases: how the § 180 ZVG procedure works, what it costs, how to stop it – and what buyers need to check.
- Finding auction dates at the local court: notice board, portal and the faster overview
Compulsory auctions at the local court (Amtsgericht): where auction dates are officially published, what an announcement contains – and how to keep track of every court's hearings in one place.