How to change your property manager in Germany (Hausverwaltung)

What exactly are we paying for every month? Sooner or later that question comes up in every German owners' meeting where the management firm has ignored the third email in a row, the annual accounts are overdue and the damp patch in the stairwell has been "being processed" since spring. Many communities put up with it for years, convinced they are locked in until the contract runs out. That conviction is outdated. Under German condominium law, owners who want to change their Hausverwaltung can dismiss the manager at any time and without giving any reason since the 2020 WEG reform; the management contract then ends no later than six months afterwards. All it takes is a simple majority at the owners' meeting, plus a plan for who takes over.

Do you need a reason to dismiss the manager?

No. Before 2020, the community's governing documents or the management contract could restrict dismissal to cases of serious cause, and poor service, slow responses or chronically late accounts often did not clear that bar. The reform removed the hurdle: under § 26(3) WEG, the Verwalter can be removed at any time, and any clause saying otherwise is void.

One distinction matters here. Dismissal (Abberufung) ends the manager's official position immediately: from the moment of the resolution, the manager no longer acts for the community, no longer convenes meetings and no longer operates the community's bank account. The management contract, by contrast, keeps running for a while, with consequences for the fee, more on that below.

What majority do you need, and how does the switch work?

A simple majority of the votes cast at the owners' meeting is enough.

The item must be announced explicitly on the meeting agenda, and so should the appointment of the successor, because both resolutions belong in the same meeting. A community without a manager is represented under § 9b WEG by all owners acting jointly; even paying the routine invoices becomes a chore.

The switch itself follows a straightforward sequence:

• Collect two or three offers and compare the full scope of services, not just the base fee
• Put the dismissal of the old manager and the appointment of the new one on the agenda as separate items
• Pass both resolutions at the meeting and fix a handover date
• Notify the bank, insurers, utilities and contractors of the change

One detail newcomers regularly miss: have the new manager confirm in writing, before the meeting, that they accept the mandate on the terms quoted. Few things are more awkward than a dismissal already resolved, and a candidate who walks away.

When does the management contract end?

No later than six months after the dismissal, even if the contract still has two years to run on paper. That statutory cap takes most of the fear out of switching: the community does not have to sit out a long residual term or buy its way out at a premium.

Until the contract ends, the dismissed firm generally keeps its right to the fee, minus whatever expenses it saves by no longer doing the work. If the contract allows earlier termination or both sides agree to part ways, it can go faster, reputable firms have little appetite for dragging a dead mandate along for half a year.

In practice, switching at the end of the financial year works best. Otherwise the annual accounts for the old year often land on the new manager's desk, who first has to reconstruct the predecessor's bookkeeping, if there is no way around a mid-year switch, factor that effort into the offer.

Which documents must the old firm hand over?

All of them. The resolution record, the declaration of division, business plans, annual accounts, contracts, receipts, bank statements, keys: the records belong to the community, not to the manager. That explicitly includes digital data: whatever the firm created electronically must be handed over free of charge, on a data carrier or by releasing access.

The handover is a collection duty: the outgoing firm must make the records available, complete and in good order, at its own offices: it does not have to deliver them to the successor. Agree on a handover appointment with a written protocol and a checklist, and check the resolution record first: experience says it is the document with the most gaps.

Legal note: the outgoing manager has no right to retain the records, not even when it claims the community still owes fees. If it refuses to hand them over, the community can enforce the handover in court.

What does a Hausverwaltung cost, and can you go without one?

As a benchmark, standard WEG management in Germany costs around 25 to 30 euros net per unit per month; in small buildings with fewer than ten units, 40 euros and more is common, because the fixed workload is spread across few flats. When comparing offers, the base fee matters less than the scope: how many meetings are included? What do dunning, construction supervision or an extraordinary meeting cost extra? A cheap base price with a long list of surcharges quickly ends up dearer than an honest all-in rate. Ask candidates about certification, too: any owner can in principle demand the appointment of a certified manager.

Small communities that cannot find a suitable offer (or want to save the fee) can manage themselves: German law imposes no general duty to appoint a manager. The meeting, the business plan, the annual accounts and the resolution record then have to be organised in-house; software for owners' associations such as Vecinly keeps invitations, resolutions and accounts in one place instead of scattered across private folders and inboxes.

Since the reform, changing your property manager in Germany is no longer a feat of strength but an ordinary resolution: simple majority, no duty to justify, contract over within six months at most. The real work comes earlier, in comparing offers and preparing the meeting properly. Get those two right, and within a few months you trade frustration for a management firm that earns its name.

Updated July 2026. This article applies to condominium associations (WEG) in Germany, is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.