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As a general rule, REFIRE does not venture deeply into facility management or property management — these are not our core territory. But conversations with asset managers have increasingly raised a question worth examining: to what extent could asset management and property management be integrated more meaningfully, particularly at the moment of handover? We therefore paid close attention to a recent panel discussion on exactly that critical phase — the point at which completed properties transfer to investors — and what it means in the current financial environment.
The panel, hosted by RUECKERCONSULT, brought together Berkan Gülen of Savills Investment Management, Jürgen Hau of INDUSTRIA Immobilien, Markus Grabau of B&L Property Management and Sascha Nöske of STRATEGIS. Their message was consistent: the first few months after a building enters service can make or break its financial performance — and the conditions that determine that outcome are set long before the keys change hands.
The defect problem has changed, not disappeared
The panellists do not see a general increase in construction defects. What has changed is the environment in which defects are managed. "Due to the increasing complexity and interconnectivity of technical systems, it now takes significantly longer for buildings to operate smoothly," said Gülen. Buildings are entering service with unresolved issues more frequently — not because build quality has deteriorated, but because time pressure has intensified. "In order to generate rental income more quickly, the time available for rectifying defects has become significantly shorter," noted Grabau.
The financial consequences are direct. Warranty disputes, insurance claims and handover defects arriving simultaneously — before income has stabilised — create operational drag precisely when investor budgets are most exposed. Rent reductions, delayed move-ins and early reputational damage can compound quickly. For large residential projects, the logistics of simultaneous handover of a hundred or more units represent a significant operational undertaking in their own right.
Getting property managers in early
The panel identified a structural shortcoming that is both common and avoidable: the late involvement of property and facility managers. In practice, managers are frequently brought in only a few months before completion — too late to validate service charge calculations, too late to influence operational readiness and too late to establish the tenant communication processes that early occupiers depend on.
"The ideal time to bring a property manager on board is right at the ground-breaking ceremony," said Nöske. "The service charge calculation must not only be plausible in the first month, but also still add up in the twelfth month. That only works if you already know the property well."
Hau underlined the documentation dimension: "It is important to ensure that the necessary data and documents are available in good time — above all the maintenance contracts that are chargeable to tenants. If these are missing at handover, the operational phase starts with a gap that is very difficult to close later." Gülen confirmed the investor perspective: "We need to identify any deviations from the calculations early on so that we can take corrective action."
For institutional investors underwriting new-build residential assets, the panel's conclusion was clear: commissioning is a distinct project phase with its own risk profile, not an administrative formality that follows construction. Early integration of property and facility managers, clear warranty management frameworks and structured defect triage are financial risk controls — not operational niceties.
As Germany's development pipeline continues to deliver assets into a more demanding financing environment, the margin for error in the operational phase has narrowed. Getting handover right is no longer just good practice. For assets where rental income projections are already under pressure, it is a prerequisite for meeting investor targets.