Use cases

The permanent data room follows a different logic from the transaction data room. It is not optimised for a cut-off date but for continuous updating. Addenda to leases, updated inspection reports, annual service charge statements, amended service provider contracts and ongoing ESG data are filed where they belong in substance, and not in a folder labelled with a year. What is decisive is metadata: property identifier, document class, validity from and to, contracting party, status and confidentiality level.

This makes it possible to handle tasks that a drive alone cannot. Inspection intervals arising from operator responsibility become visible because an end of validity is recorded for every inspection report. Termination and option deadlines under leases and service provider contracts can be evaluated. And the exit is prepared without a new data room being created: using the labelling of the document classes, we generate the transaction index from the ongoing data room and see which chapters are still missing for a sale.

The second recurring occasion is a change of manager. When the property or asset manager changes, the data room is the point of handover. The outgoing service provider uploads its documents, completeness is checked against the catalogue, the new service provider is granted access with its own permissions and the previous one loses access on the cut-off date. The activity log documents who uploaded and retrieved which documents and when. A separate deletion logic applies to tenant files, separate from the retention periods for the other documents; you specify the periods and the criteria.

Defining the boundaries is part of this. The data room is the authoritative property file for managing the portfolio. It does not replace an accounting or archiving system; the retention of tax-relevant documents in accordance with commercial and tax law requirements remains the responsibility of the company.

The building file is more extensive and more volatile than a file for an existing building. The permit status with its conditions and ancillary provisions, amended building permits (Tekturen), preliminary building rulings and urban development and site servicing agreements form the legal basis. Alongside these run the project costing, cost tracking in accordance with DIN 276, the construction programme and the construction progress and monitoring reports. In a forward deal the buyer examines precisely this level, supplemented by the pre-letting status, the signed leases and the general contractor's creditworthiness.

A separate section is given over to variation management. Variations, notices of concern, notices of disruption, changes to dates and contractual penalties determine the commercial outcome and are later examined by purchasers, lenders and auditors. We file them with date, status and reference to the relevant trade, so that the chain of notification, review, instruction and invoicing remains traceable.

The critical moment is the handover to the property owner (long-term holder). Acceptance records, defects lists with evidence of rectification, as-built documentation, operating manuals and maintenance contracts must be transferred in full. This applies above all to the warranty schedule with the periods governing under the contract, that is Section 634a BGB or Section 13(4) VOB/B where the VOB/B has been incorporated, and to the associated surety bonds. We take the periods from the contracts and make them capable of analysis; the legal assessment remains with your advisers. This is where the later losses arise: current warranty claims become worthless in practice if no one knows any longer when they expire and who holds them. We therefore maintain the building file in such a way that on the day of handover it becomes the property file for the holding phase without any restructuring.

The data room accompanies the life cycle of a fund property from the acquisition review onwards. For submission to the investment committee, property documents, valuation bases, the business plan and the results of the due diligence are made available in a traceable version. The committee members receive their own read-only area with a watermark. Meeting papers, draft resolutions and minutes are held there in an order that remains comprehensible years later.

In day-to-day operation, the data room brings together the documents that are regularly requested by several parties. The external valuers require the tenancy schedule, contract annexes, evidence of floor areas and maintenance planning as at each valuation date. The depositary requires the documents for the ownership register and for transactions requiring consent under Sections 83 and 84 KAGB, for example on acquisition, disposal and encumbrance as well as on amendments to Erbbaurecht agreements. The auditor accesses the same body of documents. Once these requirements have been structured properly, the documents can be provided from the data room as at any cut-off date instead of being compiled again by email.

For investor reporting, a separate area is created for each reporting period: quarterly and annual reports, property reports, valuation results, notices to investors. Access rights are allocated per investor or investor group, so that each party sees only the documents that concern it. Outsourcing to property managers and other service providers can be mapped by having them work in demarcated areas, with their supplies of documents recorded in the activity log. The data room thus supplies the documentation; the regulatory assessment of the processes remains a matter for the company and its advisers.