Selling a property in need of renovation

The most common expensive mistake is to put money into the bathroom and kitchen shortly before the sale. A buyer will not pay you for what they want to do differently. The opposite makes sense: disclose what is due, back it up with figures, and set the price accordingly. What will be noticed anyway should be on the table beforehand.

In Basel-Stadt, when the heat generator is replaced, a switch must be made to renewable energy in so far as this is technically possible and does not lead to additional costs. If a fossil-fuel system is nevertheless replaced or reinstalled, efficiency measures must be carried out on the building envelope or the building services, and the installation must be notified.

In Basel-Landschaft a new rule has applied since 1 January 2026: when the boiler or the burner of a heat generator more than 15 years old is replaced, a system based on renewable energy must be installed, in so far as this is technically possible and economic over its service life. Exceptions require a reasoned application. For properties with old oil or gas heating, this is the point at which a buyer's calculation tips over.

Neither Basel-Stadt nor Basel-Landschaft requires a building energy certificate on a sale. In Basel-Stadt, a GEAK with a report on measures must be drawn up for buildings with fossil-fuel heating that is more than 15 years old – but the trigger is the age of the heating, not the change of ownership. In Basel-Landschaft there is no GEAK requirement at all. Voluntarily, a certificate can still be useful: it turns a vague “ought to be done some time” into a figure.

For tenanted properties with more than three flats, any renovation that goes beyond simple ordinary maintenance must be notified or approved – and how much of it may be passed on to the rents is limited. For a buyer this means: renovation potential cannot be freely calculated in Basel-Stadt. Anyone who passes over this in the sales discussion loses the buyer later during due diligence.

The demolition of buildings that are used predominantly for residential purposes requires a permit in Basel-Stadt. An exceptional permit presupposes that the replacement building contains significantly more living space – at least 20 per cent more where ecological criteria are met in full and where adding storeys is not possible or not ecologically sensible, otherwise at least 40 per cent – and that the financing is secured. In times of housing shortage, the requirements of the housing protection rules apply in addition. A permit is also possible if the living space cannot be preserved at reasonable expense. But then an important reservation applies: not if that expense is due to obvious neglect of maintenance. Letting a building fall into disrepair is not a route to a demolition permit.

Making something new out of what exists is what we have been doing for decades – at the Warteck site, at the residential buildings on Hammerstrasse, at Stücki. We know the permit side and the property management side that follows, and we can explain to a buyer what is realistically possible with a property.