General Business and Usage Terms

General Terms and Conditions for the use of the Service “Commercial Network”

These are the general terms and conditions (“GTC”) for the use of the service “CommercialNetwork” of Immobilien Scout GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “operator” or “ImmobilienScout24”) Andreasstraße 10, 10243 Berlin.

1 General

1.1 ImmobilienScout24 operates the portal CommercialNetwork for commercial brokerage of commercial investment and rental properties (“objects”). This portal and the integrated database serve as a communications platform for those interested in buying (“Investors”) and those offering properties (“owners”) with the goal of preparing sales negotiations over the objects. At the same time it allows agents to offer investment objects for purchase and/or for owners by object. Owners, investors and agents will be referred to collectively as “participants” hereinafter.

1.2 CommercialNetwork is strictly open to private and commercial participants.

1.3 These GTCs apply supplementary to the use contract which a participant concludes with the operator in the course of registration with CommercialNetwork. Any contrary business conditions of any participant are not valid.

1.4 The operator will provide the technical prerequisites for transferring information in the form of databases and will edit the information provided by the participants. Along with this, the operator will provide supplementary information to the participants under certain circumstances. The operator however is not itself the party offering the properties entered.

2. General description of services

2.1 The operator’s services to the participants are determined in each case by the use contracts concluded with these participants on registration along with these GTCs.

2.2 Locating objects on CommercialNetwork proceeds as follows:

• Investors store purchase profiles in which they define which type of properties they are interested in based on certain criteria assigned by the system.


• Owners and agents store property profiles that describe the properties offered for sale.


• CommercialNetwork searches for purchase profiles that could fit the property being offered using a data comparison (“Matching”).


• The purchase profiles that have been found are shown to the offering owner and/or agent with investor names. The owner and/or agent can then decide by clicking on which of these investors shown the property should be offered (anonymous).


• investors selected by the owner or agent are then shown the property based on a core data information;


• Only when an investor has agreed to accept contact will the complete contact data be released.


• After corresponding release by the owner or agent, the investor can see the complete file and download it.

2.3 The operator reserves the right to temporarily restrict access to CommercialNetwork if this is necessary with respect to capacity limits, security or integrity of the servers or to execute technical work and this serves the proper or improved fulfilment of services (maintenance). The operator will take all legitimate interests of all participants into account, especially through providing information in advance.

2.4 For technical reasons, accessing CommericialNetwork may at times be impossible or only possible with restrictions (unforeseen system failures).

3. Registering User Accounts

3.1 Services provided by CommercialNetwork may only be used after prior registration with conclusion of a use contract (“registration”).

3.2 The data requested by the operator at registration must be entered correctly and completely. Registration is completed with entry of a valid e-mail address and selection of a personal password. The personal password is to be kept secret and may not be shared with third parties.

3.3 For authentication the participant must send copies of certain documents, such as excerpts from the Commeecial Registry, track records, land register extracts, etc., to the operator at registration (by uploading them to CommercialNetwork or by sending through other means). The participant is obligated to send these documents completely and unaltered and to send only copies of original documents of which he/she is the authorised owner.

3.4 If the data entered at registration change, the participant is obligated to update them in his/her user account immediately.

3.5 Registering for several user accounts with CommercialNetwork is permissible. However, even here the information and the documents sent must be complete and correct. Setting up fake accounts using false or incomplete data is prohibited. This also applies to accounts that are only established for the purpose of testing the use and functions of CommercialNetwork.

3.6 The participant will determine on registration whether the user account is an investor account for searching for properties and commission-free offering of own properties (“Investor-User-Account”), an owner account for commission-free offering of properties (“Owner-User-Account”) or an agent account for commission-based offering of properties (“Agent-User-Account”). The following contract conditions apply to the use of these three different types of account.

Special contract conditions investors
Special contract conditions owners
Special contract conditions agents

3.7 A use contract between the participant and the operator only comes into effect if the operator confirms the participant’s registration by unlocking the corresponding participant account.

4. Registration and fee

4.1 The prices and exact product details for the individual ImmobilienScout24 services are based on the price list in effect at the time the contract was awarded and the current range of products. In the event of an automatic extension of a contract period, the compensation is determined in each case by the additional contract period foreseen by the extension according to the price list for the products which will be valid for the client 2 (two) weeks prior to the date of contract extension.
The use of CommercialNetwork is fee-based. The current fee schedule can be requested via e-mail under commercialnetwork@immobilienscout24.de .

4.2 Fees that are billed for the use of a long-term service (especially subscriptions for posting properties and purchase profiles) will be bill in advance for the period listed in the current fee schedule. Payments are due immediately on receipt of the billing statement. In the event of default on payment or deferment, the legally allowed interest will be charged. In the event of default of payment ImmobilienScout24 reserves the right to withhold its own contractually owed service
until the default ends. Cost that are accrued to ImmobilienScout24 due to collections or charge-backs will be passed on .

4.3 Participants may offset the operator’s claims on compensation with claims deriving from due claims and/or future claims only if these claims are legally asserted and undisputed.

4.4 Every attempt by a participant to circumvent the obligation to pay for certain services is prohibited. In particular, when posting properties the seller’s contact data may only be entered in the fields provided for them.

5. Saving data

The operator is entitled to store the data communicated during registration or in the use of CommercialNetwork. The operator will not share these data with third parties and will heed all applicable regulations concerning data privacy. In particular, the operator will delete the data on request from the participant.

6. Sanctions, blocking and cancellation

6.1 The operator can take the following measures without additional warning and/or setting deadlines, if there are concrete reasons for suspecting that a participant is violating provisions of the law, the rights of third parties, these GTC’s or the use contract, especially in the event of default on payment:

* deletion of a file or purchase profile of the affected participant;
* blocking access to CommercialNetwork.

6.2 In selecting the measure, the operator will take into account the legitimate interests of the participant, especially if there is reason to believe the participant did not commit the violation culpably.

6.3 The operator can, after dunning and the passing of a reasonable grace period of not more than seven working days (Berlin) without result, cancel the user contract with the participant, if

* a participant is in default on payment;
* the information or data posted by a participant on CommercialNetwork infringe on the rights of third parties and the participant does not remedy this violation;
* information provided is not correct and the participant does not correct it and/or
* the participant breaches the user contract including these GTC’s and does not remedy the breach or compensate for the resulting damages.

6.4 The right to cancellation without notice for due and sufficient cause is not affected by the above right of cancellation.

6.5 As soon as the registration of a participant is deleted by the operator, the participant may no longer use CommercialNetwork and may not register again.

7. Responsibility for posted content

7.1 The individual participant is exclusively responsible for the content (especially the data for posted properties as well as for the purchase profiles for investors) posted on CommercialNetwork– to the extent this is information the participant communicated. The operator does not check either the accuracy or completeness of this information. The operator therefore provides no guarantee of the accuracy or completeness of this information to other participants.

7.2 The operator excludes every guarantee and liability that could result from the fact that purchase contracts that are pursued or concluded based on the exposés posted on CommercialNetwork prove unenforceable under the national laws or in some other way lead to legal or financial disadvantages for one or both parties to a purchase contract.

7.3 The operator especially informs the participants that it will not review the information entered by participants to determine if the participants are even capable of executing the contract which they are pursuing. It is the obligation of each contracting party alone to insure itself suitably against any failure of or inadequate performance of contractual duties before the contract is concluded.

7.4 The participant is obligated only to store such contents to which no third party rights exist or with respect to which posting the content is explicitly approved. The participant indemnifies the operator from all claims that third parties could bring against the operator for infringement of their rights through the posted exposé or on account of other use of CommercialNetwork by the participant. The participant will, in this matter, bear all costs for any necessary legal defence by the operator including all court costs and attorney’s fees. This does not apply if and to the extent that the infringement of rights is not the culpable responsibility of the participant.

8. Warranty

8.1 If a participant is entitled to any warranty claims, the operator is first entitled to subsequent fulfilment.

8.2 The operator is released from obligations to perform in cases of force majeure. Force majeure is considered unforeseeable events as well as such events whose effects on the fulfilment of contract are not the responsibility of either contracting party. Counted particularly among these events are legal labour protests, even involving third party operators, official acts, failure of communications networks and gateways of other operators, disruptions in the area of electrical power supply, other technical disruptions even if these circumstances arise in the area of sub-contractors, sub-suppliers or their sub-contractors or with operators of sub-nodal remote communications computers authorised by the provider. Claims cannot be derived from failures that are not the responsibility of the operator.

9. Liability restriction

9.1 With respect to companies, the operator is liable for damages, except in cases of breach of essential contractual duties only if and to the extent that the operator, its legal representatives, executive personnel or other agents are guilty of malice or gross negligence. In the event of a breach of essential contractual duty, the operator is liable for every culpable act of its legal representatives, executive personnel or other agents.

9.2 With respect to consumers the operator is only liable for cases of malice or gross negligence. In the event of breach of essential contractual duties, default on debt or an inability to perform the service for which the operator is culpable, the operator however is liable for every culpable act of its legal representatives, executive personnel or other agents.

9.3 Except in cases of malice or gross negligence on the part of legal representatives, executive personnel or other agents, liability on the part of the operator is restricted in amount to damages that were typical and foreseeable at the time the contract was concluded.

9.4 Liability for the remedy of indirect damages, especially for lost profits, exists only in cases of malice or gross negligence of legal representatives, executive personnel or other agents of the operator.

10. Manipulation of the property search and compromising system integrity

10.1 Participants may only search for properties in the databases affiliated with CommercialNetwork by means of the matching provided by CommercialNetwork. Searching for properties in a way that circumvents this process is prohibited, especially through use of search software that accesses CommercialNetwork’s databases. Violations will be prosecuted under civil law from the viewpoint of interference with an established and properly operated business enterprise and will have under consideration of unauthorised infringement of related protected rights under §§ 108 ff of the Copyright Act consequences under criminal law (Urhebergesetzes strafrechlicher Konsequenzen).

10.2 Activities intended to render the CommercialNetwork website non-functional or make it more difficult to use are prohibited. The participant may not take any measures that can result in an unreasonable or disproportionate load on the infrastructure of CommercialNetwork. The participant is not allowed to block content generated by CommercialNetwork, to overwrite or modify or in any other way disruptively interfere with the website of CommercialNetwork.

11. Copyrights, use rights, use of information

11.1 The data, information, company symbols, texts, programs and images stored on CommercialNetwork are subject to copyright and other protected rights. Modification, re-working, and use in media of any kinds is not permitted, to the extent that written permission has not been obtained from the operator in advance. The rights of the participant with respect to any data provided by him/her and any information (including any images) are unaffected by this; he/she can continue to dispose of these.

11.2 The participant is not permitted to do any of the following with the data obtained from using CommercialNetwork, either in whole or in part: (i) to create a database of its own in any form whatsoever (ii) for any commercial exploitation of the data or for sharing information and/or (iii) for any other commercial purpose. Linking, integrating, or otherwise connecting the database or individual elements of the database with other databases or meta-databases is only permitted with the prior written permission of the operator.

12. Offers from cooperating partners

The operator will provide offers and information from selected cooperating partners on CommercialNetwork. These offers will be marked separately. The cooperating partners are solely responsible for the contents of information and the services they provide. Any contract concluded between the participants and cooperation partners is governed exclusively by agreements concluded between these parties and does not encompass in any case claims and/or rights of these parties against the operator.

13. Place of fulfilment, applicability of German Law, court of jurisdiction

13.1 To the extent that the participant is a company, the usage contract including these GTC’s is, in both application and interpretation, exclusively subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. The application of the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is excluded.

13.2 To the extent that the participant is a consumer, the use contract including these GTC’s is subject to the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany to the extent that there are no compulsory legal provisions, especially consumer protection regulations that are to the contrary.

13.3 To the extent that the participant is a merchant in the sense of the German Commercial Code, Berlin is the sole court of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the use of the databases of CommercialNetwork. The like applies
if the participant transfers his/her residence abroad after the contract is concluded or has no general court of jurisdiction in Germany.

14. Right to revoke

Every consumer as defined in §13 of the German Civil Code (Bürger Gesetz Buch) has the right to cancel the contract in text form within 14 days; this means e.g. via letter, fax or e-mail to ImmobilienScout24 at the address given here:

Immobilien Scout GmbH
Commercial Properties Division
Andreasstraße 10
10243 Berlin
Fax NO.: 030 - 24 301 1110

or the e-mail address commercialnetwork@immobilienscout24.de to revoke. The period begins with the receipt of this proper instruction in text form, at the earliest however on the date on which the contract starts and also not before the informational duties under Article 246 § 2 in combination with § 1 Para. 1 and 2 of EGBGB Introductory Law to the German Civil Code (Einführungssegetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch). Timely sending of the revocation suffices to meet the revocation deadline. If the instruction is communicated after the conclusion of contract, the period is one month. Your right to revoke extinguishes prematurely if the contract is deemed completely fulfilled at the expressed wish of both parties before You have exercised your right to revoke.

15. Consequences of revocation

In the event of effective revocation by a consumer in the sense of § 13 German Civil Code, the considerations received on both sides are to be mutually refunded and if necessary any usages drawn (e.g. use and enjoyment) to be surrendered. If you can only return the consideration to us in part or not at all or only in a deteriorated condition, you will, to that extent, possibly be required to compensate for the lost value. This can mean that you will still have to fulfil your contractual payment obligations through for the period through the date of revocation. Obligations to reimburse payments must be fulfilled within 30 days. For you, this period begins with the sending of your declaration of revocation, for us, with receipt of same.

16. Changes to these general terms and conditions

ImmobilienScout24 reserves the right to change these general terms and conditions at any time under observation of a reasonable notice period of at least 6 (six) weeks. The notice will be affected through the publication of the changed general terms and conditions indicating the date on which they enter into force in the internet on the website of CommercialNetwork.
If the participant does not object within 6 (six) weeks after publication, these modified general terms and conditions are deemed accepted. In the announcement of the change, separate reference will be made to the significance of the six-week deadline.
Should the participant object to the changed terms and conditions in a timely fashion, ImmobilienScout24 is entitled, taking account of the legitimate interests of the participant, to cancel the existing contract with the participant on that date on which the change takes effect. Correspondingly, the participant’s content will then be deleted from the database. The participant cannot assert any claims against ImmobilienScout24 deriving from this.

17. Severability Clause

To the extent that a provision of these GTC’s proves unenforceable, the remaining provisions will be unaffected. The unenforceable provision will be deemed replaced by one that most closely approximates the commercial intent and purpose of the unenforceable provision in a legally enforceable manner. The like applies to any loopholes.

Status: June 2011

A. Special Contract Conditions for investor-users

Investor user accounts serve the purpose of entering information into the CommercialNetwork database on the basis of which criteria the user in question can search for properties to purchase (“creating purchase profiles”). On the basis of these purchase profiles, properties whose stored object data match the purchase profile of the participant are identified over CommercialNetwork for the participant in question,. At the same time the investor user account also allows users to offer their own properties to other users who have created purchase profiles in the CommercialNetwork database. To this end the investor can enter the property data for the real estate in question into the CommercialNetwork database (“saving properties”) serves to make. The following special conditions apply to the use of investor user accounts:

I. Special conditions for creating purchase profiles

1. The investor is obligated when creating a purchase profile to provide complete and accurate information. Accidentally inaccurate information (e.g. typographical errors) must be corrected as soon as it is recognised. The like applies to subsequent changes in the data entered.

2. When posting a purchase profile on CommercialNetwork, the investor has the opportunity to clarify by entering a so-called disclaimer, that the interest in purchase stated in the profile is non-binding. And regardless of the decision to enter a disclaimer, the investor of course does not enter an obligation to actually buy properties that match the purchase profile that he/she posts. The investor is however obligated, once purchase profiles have been entered, to continually review these profiles for currency and if need be update them. Especially he/she is obligated to change or delete a posted profile if it no longer matches his/her actual purchasing interests or options.

3. The investor is obligated to use the information sent to him/her through the use of his/her investor-user account solely for the preparation and completion of his/her own real estate purchases. Any sharing of this information for other purposes is prohibited. This especially applies to any attempt by the investor to forward the properties offered to him/her in return for compensation.

II. Special conditions for posting properties

1. Only actually existing properties may be posted.

2. The investor is obligated to provide complete and accurate information about a property when posting a property. Accidentally incorrect information (e.g. typographical errors) is to be corrected as soon as they are recognised. The like applies to subsequent changes in the data entered.

3. The investor may only post properties that he/she personally owns or with respect to which he/she is legally entitled to enter binding obligations on behalf of the owner.

4. As long as a property is posted with CommercialNetwork, the investor must be able to enter into a binding purchase contract on the properties offered with a purchaser at any time and, providing the usual and customary conditions have been met to hand-over and transfer the property. If at any time the investor is no longer able to do this, he/she is obligated to delete the property from CommercialNetwork immediately.

5. Offering properties for sale on commission is only permitted with an agent-user account. By posting a property using an investor user account, the participant gives assurance at the same time that this property is being offered for sale commission-free, and that the investor either did not engage an agent or, if at all, only an agent who works exclusively for him/her– the investor.

6. When posting a property, the investor will be required to document his/her legal authority to offer the property for sale by sending the operator certain documents, such as excerpts from the Commercial Registry (by uploading them to CommercialNetwork or by sending in another way). The investor is obligated to send these documents unaltered and complete– to the extent these exist.

7. The investor is obligated to use the information sent to him/her through the use of his/her investor user account only in connection with the intended, actual real estate transaction. Any sharing of this information with third parties or use of the information for other purposes is prohibited.

8. The investor is aware that the objects that he/she posts using CommercialNetwork can only be communicated to such investors who maintain their own investor-user account during the time period in question and who have stored a purchase profile. He/she is aware that the number and composition of these investors is subject to constant fluctuation. The operator provides no guarantee that a certain minimum number of investors or certain investors will maintain active purchase profiles in the affected time period or that there will be active purchase profiles in that time period that aim at the market segment represented by the properties offered for sale.

Status: June 2011

B. Special contract conditions for owner-user accounts

Owner-user accounts serve to offer properties for sale that are owned by investors who have created purchase profiles in the CommercialNetwork database. To this end the owner can enter the property data for the properties involved in the CommercialNetwork database (“posting properties”). For the use of these accounts and posting of properties, the following special conditions apply:

1. Only properties that actually exist can be posted.

2. The owner is obligated when posting a property to enter only complete and accurate information with reference to this property. Accidentally inaccurate information (e.g. typographical errors) must be corrected as soon as it is recognised. The like applies to subsequent changes in property data.

3. The owner may only post properties that he/she personally owns or with respect to which he/she is legally entitled to enter binding obligations on behalf of the owner.

4. As long as a property is posted with CommercialNetwork, the owner must be able to enter into a binding purchase contract on the properties offered with a purchaser at any time and, providing the usual and customary conditions have been met to hand-over and transfer the property. If at any time the owner is no longer able to do this, he/she is obligated to delete the property from CommercialNetwork immediately.

5. Offering properties for sale on commission is only permitted with an agent-user account. By posting a property using an owner-user account, the participant gives assurance at the same time that this property is being offered for sale commission-free, and that the owner either did not engage an agent or, if at all, only an agent who works exclusively for him/her– the owner.

6. When posting a property, the owner will be required to document his/her legal authority to offer the property for sale by sending the operator certain documents such as excerpts from the Commercial Registry, track records, extracts from land registers (by uploading them to CommercialNetwork or by sending in another way). The owner is obligated to send these documents unaltered and complete– to the extent they are on-hand.

7. The owner is obligated to use the information sent to him/her through the use of his/her owner- user account only in connection with the intended, actual real estate transaction. Any sharing of this information with third parties or use of the information for other purposes is prohibited.

8. The owner is aware that the objects that he/she posts using CommercialNetwork can only be communicated to such investors who maintain their own investor-user account during the time period in question and who have stored a purchase profile. He/she is aware that the number and composition of these investors is subject to constant fluctuation. The operator provides no guarantee that a certain minimum number of investors or certain investors will maintain active purchase profiles in the affected time period or that there will be active purchase profiles in that time period that aim at the market segment represented by the properties offered for sale.

Status: June 2011

C. Special contract conditions for agent-user accounts

Agent user accounts serve to post property data for real estate properties in the CommercialNetwork database (“posting properties”) in order to offer these for purchase to potential investors in return for a commission. ”). For the use of these accounts and posting of properties, the following special conditions apply:

1. Only actually existing properties may be posted.

2. The agent is obligated to provide complete and accurate information about a property when posting a property. Accidentally incorrect information (e.g. typographical errors) is to be corrected as soon as they are recognised. The like applies to subsequent changes in the data entered or changes to the owner’s sale price expectations.

3. The agent may only post a property if and only to the extent and for as long as the owner of the property has already expressly granted the agent consent in writing, in the form of an exclusive contact, to act as (referral) agent for possible buyers for this property. To the extent that the property owner has given the agent instructions for the amount of the agent’s commission to be arranged with the buyer, the agent must observe these instructions. In the event of a change or the revocation of this consent by the property owner, the agent must immediately delete the property posted on CommercialNetwork and/or change his/her own data.

4. By posting a property, the agent gives assurance that the property owner to the best of the agent’s knowledge is ready and able to conclude a legally enforceable contract for the real estate offered with a purchaser at any time, providing the usual and customary conditions have been met for the hand-over and transfer the property. Should it become known to the agent that this is not or is no longer the case; the agent is obligated to delete the property from CommercialNetwork immediately.

5. When posting a property, the agent will be required to document his/her legal authority to offer the property for sale by sending the operator certain documents (by uploading them to CommercialNetwork or by sending in another way). The agent is obligated to send these documents unaltered and complete– to the extent these exist.

6. The agent is obligated to use the information sent to him/her through the use of his/her agent-user account only for referring opportunities to conclude contracts on the properties posted by him/her– the agent. Any sharing of this information with third parties or use of the information for other purposes is prohibited.

7. The agent is aware that the objects that he/she posts using CommercialNetwork can only be communicated to such investors who maintain their own investor-user account during the time period in question and who have stored a purchase profile. He/she is aware that the number and composition of these investors is subject to constant fluctuation. The operator provides no guarantee that a certain minimum number of investors or certain investors will maintain active purchase profiles in the affected time period or that there will be active purchase profiles in that time period that aim at the market segment represented by the properties offered for sale,

8. The agent may not post his/her purchase profiles through his/her user account.

18. Cancellation and deletion of a user account:

Cancellation of the user account must be sent to the address recorded in Number 14 of these GTC’s in writing (letter or fax). The account will be deleted within 2 working days of receipt of the notice of cancellation.

Status: June 2011