Immoscout24: Lawsuit over misleading credit information - financial expert criticizes advertising

Immoscout24: Lawsuit over misleading credit information - financial expert criticizes advertising

According to a report from www.tagesspiegel.de, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) has filed a lawsuit against Immoscout24. The reason for this is that the apartment advertising portal offers customers a credit report as part of a subscription, giving the impression that consumers have to provide proof of creditworthiness when viewing the property. However, according to the vzbv, it is illegal to request such information before the rental agreement is concluded.

The Schufa information is often viewed as an important part of the application folder of those looking for accommodation. Immoscout24 advertises this service and gives the impression that landlords can request proof of creditworthiness when viewing the apartment. The vzbv considers this advertising to be misleading, as landlords are only allowed to request a credit report when the rental agreement is practically already on the table.

The possible impact of this lawsuit could be that Immoscout24 has to change its advertising message in order to no longer give the impression that landlords are allowed to request Schufa information when viewing the apartment. This could mean that in the future, those looking for an apartment will no longer be pressured to obtain a credit report early on, but will instead be able to wait until the rental agreement is actually discussed.

This change could have both positive and negative effects. On the one hand, those looking for an apartment would be relieved because they would no longer have to obtain information at an early stage for a fee if they are not yet sure whether they will actually get the apartment. On the other hand, this could lead to landlords increasingly making their decisions based on other criteria when it comes to selecting tenants.

It remains to be seen how the Berlin Regional Court will decide on the lawsuit and what impact this will have on the market for apartment advertising portals and the search for apartments in general.