BÜ wants a declaration of assignment. How to avoid it?

Hello everyone,

unfortunately, I have to ask for your expert opinion again, as I currently only have friction and an uneasy feeling with our construction company.

We have already had so many points of contention without the construction even starting.

Now the good gentleman, the owner of the construction company, informed us that he would like to have an assignment declaration from us. This clearly creates a disadvantage/high risk for us.

It is now the case that the construction company is contractually entitled to demand this service from us.

The contract includes the following clause – see the attachment. Unfortunately, it was indeed the case that we were late with the first installment. This was due to the fact that the registration in the land register had not yet taken place at that time, and the bank refused to pay out to the construction company until the registration was completed. We had agreed on this with the construction financing, which is why the payment delay occurred. However, this clause regarding the assignment declaration slipped past us.

Is there now a possibility for us not to comply with the construction company's demand? What happens in the case that we refuse such an obligation? Once again our own mistake, I know, but can it be that such a situation is legally legitimate when it causes a significant disadvantage for the builder?

Thanks in advance.

Off to the lawyer. The question is whether you even want to start construction with the company in such a situation.

Off to the lawyer. The question is whether you even want to start construction with the company in such a situation

"Will" is the wrong word here. We don't want to do that. But paying 50,000€ to get out of the contract and then looking for another construction company will definitely not be cheaper/better.

will definitely not get cheaper / better

The former probably not, the latter maybe. But if you are already in confrontation from the start, you should have the construction accompanied by a lawyer and a building expert. And de-escalate on the emotional level. Sometimes more than one side has handled the matter suboptimally until it gets that far...

I think we had something like that too? So, the general contractor wanted a document from the bank confirming that everything with the financing is in order. Is it something like that? If yes, such a thing is common.

What is the name of your contracting party?

I have the feeling that you think you have a different contract than others.

It also seems to me as if you have chosen a contracting party you do not trust and are basically suspicious in return.

It can’t work like this somehow. One should trust a partner. There must be something right to give him trust in advance.

I or even the whole forum probably cannot see where exactly the weak point of the contracting parties is. However, it is the case that if a general contractor’s contract is immoral, the general contractor is not active for long. They then quickly disappear and are rather a niche company (quickly there and also quickly gone).

What would you want to do if the entrepreneur does not want to comply with the contract?

Contracts are binding after all. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need them.

Have a lawyer check whether the clause is against public policy. In my opinion, it is not. IANAL.

I would first clarify whether the bank issues this guarantee at all and what it costs.