Building logbook in Vienna: does your building need one?

An electronic file for a building. It lists the building permits, the parts that can endanger people if they deteriorate (structure, façade, railings, roof), when they must be inspected, the results, a register of defects and a plan for fixing them (§ 128a para. 4 Vienna Building Code). The city also calls it the “Gebäudepickerl”.

For existing buildings erected before 1 January 1919 by 31 December 2027, for those erected from 1 January 1919 to 1 January 1945 by 31 December 2030 (§ 128a para. 3). What counts is the year the building was first erected. New builds, extensions and conversions have needed a logbook since 2014, by the completion notice.

Buildings with a built-up area of 50 m² or less, allotment-garden houses and allotment-garden dwellings (§ 128a para. 2 and 3). A detached garden shed or carport of up to 50 m² therefore needs none of its own. Whether an attached carport counts towards the built-up area of the house is something MA 37 can tell you in case of doubt.

Providers who publish prices ask 2,300 to 3,750 euros for an apartment building with one staircase and about 1,500 m², including the building file and first inspection (median of five: 2,956 euros), and 1,130 to 2,460 euros for a house of about 150 m², sometimes without the building file (median of seven: 1,392 euros). All prices net; VAT usually comes on top. Not included are repairs of defects found, deeper investigations if something looks wrong, later inspections and keeping the logbook. As of 3 November 2026.

The costs are expenses for the property. All flat owners bear them by their ownership shares unless a different key has been agreed in writing (WEG § 32), and they are usually paid from the reserve fund. For scale: 2,956 euros are about 15 percent of one year’s minimum reserve for 1,500 m² of usable floor space. Whether the logbook counts as maintenance has not been decided. That determines whether the property manager can commission it as ordinary administration or whether the owners vote on it.

If the Tenancy Act applies in full to your flat (the norm for buildings from before 1945), § 21 lists the operating costs exhaustively, and the logbook is not among them. There is no Supreme Court decision on it so far. In one- and two-unit houses and many converted attics § 21 does not apply; there the lease decides. You can have such a charge reviewed by the arbitration board (Schlichtungsstelle); applying and the procedure are free of charge.

Civil engineers (Ziviltechniker) in a relevant field, court-certified experts in a relevant field and master builders, including planning master builders, but not construction businesses limited to execution (FAQ of MA 37). They may not be the owner, nor employed by the owner, nor an officer of the owner’s company (§ 128a para. 2 and 3).

1. Find out the construction period (check on this page, hotline, plan inspection).
2. Collect existing plans and permits. If something is missing, book an appointment at the MA 37 plan archive early.
3. Commission a qualified person.
4. Announce the inspection and arrange access to roof, cellar, staircases and individual flats.
5. Receive the first inspection and the logbook in electronic form.
6. Register the confirmations online. Anyone may do this, including the expert or the property manager.
7. Fix defects according to the plan and keep to the inspection dates.

Check the qualification in the public registers (chamber of civil engineers, list of court-certified experts, trade register GISA). The offer should state whether obtaining plans, registration and the signed confirmation are included, how thoroughly the building is inspected, and whether the price is per building or per staircase. Also ask whether the same firm wants to carry out the repairs.

The intervals are set by the expert in the logbook. As a guideline MA 37 suggests a main inspection by a qualified person every 10 years. If a part has a minor defect, it is checked in between at least every 3 (façade, stairs) or 5 years (roof, ceilings, walls), every year for a serious defect. These checks may also be done by the owner, the property manager or an ÖNORM B 1300 inspector. If there is danger, act immediately (MA 37 explanatory notes, section 2.7 and Annex B).

Online on the City of Vienna’s registration page. You upload the electronically signed confirmation of the logbook and the confirmation of the first inspection, not the logbook itself; keep the registration number from the confirmation email. By 25 August 2026 about 2,000 buildings from before 1919 had been registered. § 128c provides for no public lookup and we found none, so ask your property manager or the owners.

The building authority announced on ORF that it will send reminders from 1 January 2028 and then start penalty proceedings. Violations of the Building Code can be fined up to 50,000 euros, up to 300,000 euros if they cause a danger to life or health (§ 135 para. 1 and 3).

If a property manager is appointed, it keeps the logbook (§ 128a para. 5). It is liable instead of the owner only if the owner knew nothing and arranged nothing. If the owner did not choose or supervise the manager carefully, the owner is liable as well (§ 135 para. 5).

What counts is the year the building was originally erected. A later attic conversion does not change the deadline but makes the logbook due by its completion notice (§ 128a para. 2). A house demolished and rebuilt after 1945, even on the old cellar walls, counts as a new building (§ 60 para. 1 lit. a); one that was only repaired keeps its original date. In case of doubt the plan inspection clarifies it.

Not entirely. If part of a building comes loose and hurts someone, the possessor is liable unless they prove they took all necessary care (§ 1319 ABGB). A kept logbook with defects dealt with is good evidence of that. But it is not a complete list of damage, does not check whether everything was permitted, and does not replace ongoing maintenance under § 129 Building Code.

No. It reads the same city register (Wien Kulturgut) that MA 37 recommends for a first estimate, and the city states that no legal certainty follows from it. Where the register has no date, the check says “unknown”, never “exempt”. Only the plan inspection at MA 37 is legally binding.

No. ÖNORM B 1300 is a voluntary standard for regular property safety checks; the logbook is a legal obligation under the Vienna Building Code. An existing B 1300 inspection does not replace the logbook, but it can be planned into it as an interim check. Tell the expert, it avoids duplicate visits.