🧱 Consumer building contract, acceptance and defects
In brief
A consumer building contract (Verbraucherbauvertrag) exists when you commission a new building or a substantial conversion. It must be in text form.
The contractor must give you a building description beforehand. The contract must state when the building will be finished or how long construction will take. You can withdraw from the contract within 14 days, unless it was notarially recorded.
Partial payments may together amount to at most 90 percent of the remuneration. With the first payment, the contractor must provide 5 percent security.
At acceptance (Abnahme) you inspect the work. Have defects recorded in writing. Claims for defects in a building become time-barred five years after acceptance.
Step by step
- Check the building descriptionCompare the building description and the contract. Doubts count against the contractor.
- Withdrawal and paymentsIf applicable, withdraw within 14 days. Pay attention to the rules on partial payments and security.
- Acceptance with a recordGo through the house with an expert and record defects in writing.
- Declare a reservationIf you accept the work despite known defects, expressly reserve your rights.
Deadlines
- With notarial recording there is no right of withdrawal under § 650l.
- The withdrawal period starts only with proper instruction (Art. 249 § 3 EGBGB, § 356e BGB) and expires at the latest 12 months and 14 days after the contract is concluded.
- If you accept a work with known defects, you lose rights unless you reserve them (§ 640 Abs. 3 BGB).
- The contractor can set a deadline for acceptance; for consumers this is effective only with a notice in text form about the consequences (§ 640 Abs. 2).
- If the contract gives no information on construction time, the one from the building description applies.
- Building supervision: there is no longer a general official final inspection. Private acceptance under § 640 BGB does not replace a building supervision check; notification duties under the state building code remain (BY/NRW/BE, Berlin: not checked in full text).
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Definition and form
§ 650i BGB: consumer building contracts are contracts by which the contractor is obliged by a consumer to build a new building or carry out substantial conversion work. The contract requires text form.
Building description and content
§ 650j BGB: the contractor must inform the consumer about the details arising from Art. 249 EGBGB in the form provided there, unless the consumer provides the essential planning specifications. § 650k BGB: the pre-contractual building description becomes part of the contract unless expressly agreed otherwise; doubts in interpreting the work owed count against the contractor; the contract must contain binding information on the completion date or the construction period, otherwise the information in the building description applies.
Withdrawal and payment
§ 650l BGB: right of withdrawal under § 355 (14 days), unless the contract was notarially recorded. Under § 356e BGB the period starts only with proper instruction under Art. 249 § 3 EGBGB and expires at the latest 12 months and 14 days after the contract is concluded. § 650m Abs. 1: partial payments together at most 90 percent of the agreed total remuneration including additions. Abs. 2: with the first partial payment, security of 5 percent of the total remuneration must be provided; if the remuneration claim rises by more than 10 percent, a further 5 percent of the additional claim must be secured with the next payment; security can be provided by retention or by a guarantee from a credit institution or credit insurer (Abs. 3). Abs. 4: agreed security in favour of the contractor is invalid to the extent that it exceeds the next partial payment or 20 percent of the remuneration.
Construction supervision (state law BY / NRW / BE)
Bavaria: Art. 77, 78 BayBO; commencement of use must be notified 2 weeks beforehand (Art. 78 Abs. 2). NRW: §§ 83, 84 BauO NRW 2018; notify start of construction, shell and completion 1 week beforehand in each case. Berlin: BauO Bln (Berlin: not checked in full text, numbering not verified). There is no longer a general official final inspection; private acceptance under § 640 BGB does not replace a building supervision check.
Acceptance, recording of condition, defects
§ 640 BGB: the client is obliged to accept the work if it has been produced in accordance with the contract; acceptance cannot be refused for insignificant defects. Deemed acceptance if the contractor sets a reasonable deadline after completion and the client does not refuse, stating at least one defect; for consumers only with a notice in text form about the consequences. If the client knows of a defect at acceptance, rights under § 634 are available only with a reservation. § 650g: if acceptance is refused because of defects, the condition must be recorded jointly on request; the final invoice is deemed verifiable if the client does not raise objections within 30 days. § 634a: limitation period for a building is five years, starting with acceptance.
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