Expert appraisals  / property valuations

An appraisal is the well-founded representation of past experiences and the deduction of conclusions concerning the effective judgment of an occurrence or state through one or more experts.

An appraisal contains a generally trustworthy assessment of facts with regard to a posed question or a given goal.
 

There is a general distinction to be made with regards to ordering and carrying out an appraisal as a:

• private appraisal (with the variant of expert adjudicator)

or

• court appraisal

The area of those placing orders for private appraisals is unbounded and can originate from, for example:
-  private persons
-  companies
-  insurance agencies
-  organizations (administrations, unions, etc.)
 
A private appraisal in the form of damage assessment to determine the existing damages and deficiencies of a building has the advantage of out-of-court settlements when possible conflicts arise with building contractors, general contractors, pre-built home producers, or anyone else who has participated in the construction process.  
 
 Valid in Germany:
According to the Federal Court of Justice (“German Supreme Court”), the costs of an appraisal concerning the cause and extent of acquired defects/damages, including those expected to possibly occur, are to be counted as resulting damages. They are to compensated for according to § 13 Abs. 7 VOB/B.

According to the German VOB/B, there is no need to set a deadline as the damage arises from the outset along with the claim to subsequent improvements.

The appointment of a court ordered appraisal takes place in civil courts (district courts, state courts) within the framework of an independent proceedings for the takings of evidence and generally requires an order to take evidence, whereupon questions are answered regarding existing deficiencies.