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Guide Process

How much of the market value do you have to bid? The 5/10 and 7/10 thresholds in a compulsory auction

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The 5/10 and 7/10 thresholds lapse at a new hearing only after refusal of the award on a value-threshold ground. A second hearing alone is not enough.

Quick answers

How much of the market value do you have to bid in a compulsory auction?

There is no minimum percentage for your bid. For the award, the law sets two thresholds: if the highest bid, including the rights that remain in place, does not reach 50% of the market value, the court must refuse the award (5/10 threshold). Below 70%, a party whose claim would only then be covered can apply for refusal (7/10 threshold). Both apply until the award has been refused once on one of these grounds.

Are bids below 50 percent of the market value allowed?

You may generally bid from the lowest admissible bid (geringstes Gebot), which covers the costs of the proceedings and the rights ranking ahead of the creditor pursuing the auction (§ 44 ZVG), so often well below 50%. The thresholds only apply when the court decides on the award. Below 50%, the court refuses the award ex officio, unless it was already refused once on a threshold ground.

Do the thresholds still apply at a second hearing?

That depends on the first hearing. If the award was refused there because of the 5/10 or 7/10 threshold, it may not be refused on either of these grounds again at the new hearing (§ 85a (2) and § 74a (4) ZVG). If there were no bids or the hearing was cancelled, both thresholds continue to apply. The notice of the hearing should state such a refusal (§ 38 (1) ZVG). If in doubt, ask the court.

What does the notice „Die Wertgrenzen (5/10 und 7/10) sind weggefallen“ mean?

The sentence, German for „the 5/10 and 7/10 thresholds have fallen away“, appears on zvg-portal.de in the announcement of a single case. It means that neither threshold applies at this hearing any more, because the award was refused on one of them before (§ 85a (2) and § 74a (4) ZVG). A bid below 50% can then receive the award. The thresholds have not been abolished and still apply in other cases.

No percentage guarantees you the award (Zuschlag). The law sets two thresholds, both measured against the market value the court fixes (§ 74a (5) ZVG). Below 50%, the court refuses the award of its own motion. Below 70%, a party entitled to satisfaction from the property can apply for refusal. Both apply until the award has been refused once on one of these grounds. You can almost always bid earlier, and in the end what others bid matters too.

What happens if the highest bid is below 50%?

If the highest bid does not reach half of the market value, the court must refuse the award ex officio (§ 85a (1) ZVG). Nobody has to apply for this. The threshold protects the debtor. As long as it applies, a bid below it does not get you the award. If it remains the highest, the refusal has two results: neither threshold applies at the new hearing, and according to the notes of the local court of Dorsten you get your security back only when the refusal is final.

Who can prevent the award between 50% and 70%?

If the highest bid stays below seven tenths of the market value, a party entitled to satisfaction from the property can apply for refusal of the award (§ 74a (1) ZVG). Only a party whose claim is wholly or partly uncovered by the highest bid, but would probably be covered by a bid of seven tenths, may do so. That can be a bank, for example, whose land charge would only be reached by a higher bid.

This does not happen automatically. If nobody files the application by the end of the hearing on the award (§ 74a (2) ZVG), the award can also be granted at, for example, 60%. The application is rejected if the creditor pursuing the auction objects and shows credibly that refusal would cause it disproportionate harm (§ 74a (1) sentence 2 ZVG).

From 70%, neither of these thresholds stands in the way any longer. Other grounds for refusal remain possible, for example if the creditor consents to a stay of the proceedings (§§ 30, 33 ZVG).

What counts towards the percentage?

The comparison uses the highest bid including the capital value of the rights that remain in place under the conditions of sale (§ 85a (1), § 74a (1) ZVG). Your cash bid alone is therefore not enough for the comparison. The court fixes which rights remain in place only at the hearing. The guide on the lowest bid and rights that remain in place shows what they mean economically.

On the other side of the sum stands the market value the court has fixed. If you think it is wrong, that does not help you at the hearing: the award or its refusal cannot be challenged on the ground that the value was fixed incorrectly (§ 74a (5) sentence 4 ZVG).

Which bids are enough at a market value of €200,000?

An invented example: the court has fixed the market value of a house at €200,000. The 5/10 threshold is therefore €100,000 and the 7/10 threshold €140,000. At the hearing it finds that an older land charge of €20,000 remains in place and announces a lowest cash bid of €8,000.

Your cash bidWith the land chargeShare of market valueResult while the thresholds apply
€40,000€60,00030%The court refuses the award ex officio (§ 85a (1) ZVG).
€90,000€110,00055%The award is possible. An entitled party can apply for refusal (§ 74a (1) ZVG).
€125,000€145,00072.5%Neither threshold stands in the way. Other grounds for refusal remain possible.

If you forget the land charge, you take €90,000 for 45% and so for hopeless. The comparison, however, uses €110,000, and economically the property costs you that amount too. Once neither threshold applies any more, even the bid of €40,000 can receive the award if it remains the highest and no other ground for refusal exists.

What applies at the new hearing after a refusal on a value threshold?

If the court refuses the award because of the 5/10 or the 7/10 threshold, it sets a new hearing of its own motion. As a rule at least three months should lie between the two hearings, and there may not be more than six (§ 74a (3), § 85a (2) ZVG). At that hearing the award may not be refused again on either ground (§ 85a (2) and § 74a (4) ZVG), whichever threshold it failed on before. An award is then possible even below 50% or 70%.

A second hearing alone is not enough. If, for example, no bids were made previously or the hearing was cancelled, the thresholds do not lapse on that basis. What matters is the prior refusal of the award on one of these grounds. What happens if nobody bids, and how the hearing itself runs, is covered in the guide on the auction hearing.

What does the notice „Die Wertgrenzen (5/10 und 7/10) sind weggefallen“ mean?

On zvg-portal.de this sentence, German for „the 5/10 and 7/10 thresholds have fallen away“, stands in the „Hinweis“ line of a single announcement, and it applies only to that case. The background is § 38 (1) sentence 2 ZVG: if the award was refused at an earlier hearing on a value threshold, the notice of the hearing should say so. The local court of Braunschweig names as the usual addition that the award was refused at an earlier hearing on the grounds of § 74a or § 85a ZVG. Some courts write this only in the text of the announcement. The thresholds have not been abolished. §§ 74a and 85a ZVG are still in the statute (checked on 31 October 2026).

Our data show how often this occurs: on 31 October 2026, ZVG Melder listed 3,013 upcoming hearings from 14 federal states. 222 of them, about 7%, carried exactly this sentence. We take only what the court itself states, because the course of the hearings alone does not reliably show whether the award was refused on a threshold. In the overview you can filter for hearings with this notice. The filter does not always cover an addition that stands only in the text of the announcement.

Conversely, a missing notice does not prove that both thresholds apply, because § 38 ZVG is a „should“ provision. The local court of Dorsten lists the 5/10 and 7/10 thresholds among the details announced at the hearing. If anything is unclear, ask the responsible court beforehand.

Should you wait for a new hearing?

That cannot be planned. Whether there will be a new hearing is decided only at the current one: if somebody bids 70% or more, the award usually goes to them (§ 81 (1) ZVG). And at a new hearing the others bid as well, so a low bid can be outbid at any time.

A low award is nevertheless not an automatic bargain. It still depends on whether the condition, the rights and the data situation are right. The risk classes help you sort through such warning signs more quickly before you bid.

What changes if a creditor bids itself?

For creditors who are to be satisfied from the property, the statute calculates differently. Their bid also counts the amount by which they would go unpaid in the distribution of the proceeds (§ 85a (3), § 74b ZVG). If such a creditor receives the award below seven tenths, it is treated as satisfied up to that threshold (§ 114a ZVG). This explains why a bank can receive the award at the hearing with a bid that would fail on the threshold if it were yours.

From what amount may you bid?

In principle you may join the bidding from the lowest admissible bid. It covers the costs of the proceedings and the rights ranking ahead of the creditor pursuing the auction (§ 44 (1) ZVG), and it is often well below 50%. The value thresholds only take effect at the award decision. Your personal upper limit, by contrast, is set not by the court but by your bank.

In brief

  1. Below 50%, the court refuses the award ex officio as long as the thresholds apply.
  2. Between 50% and 70%, the award is possible, but an entitled party can apply for refusal.
  3. From 70%, these value thresholds do not prevent the award. Other grounds for refusal remain possible.
  4. Rights that remain in place count towards the highest bid at their capital value.
  5. Both thresholds lapse at a new hearing only after refusal of the award on one of these value-threshold grounds; a second hearing alone is not enough.
  6. „Die Wertgrenzen (5/10 und 7/10) sind weggefallen“ applies only to the case in whose announcement the sentence stands.

Note: General orientation, not legal advice. Statutes checked on 31 October 2026.

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