Payment of final installment and acceptance

Hello... The contract does not mention § 632.

Here is the first email reply from my lawyer:


Hello Mr. ........




The general contractor cannot demand a guarantee for the final payment, the law does not provide for that. The general contractor is obliged to perform in advance.


He can only proceed according to §§ 648, 648a of the Construction Code.


Your right of retention must be preserved, so a bank should not pay out if defects exist.




Best regards.....



I will still talk to him on the phone, as my questions have not been answered conclusively.
For example, do I have to give this form to the bank and have it filled out?
I really do not want a legal dispute before it even starts.

What does "to give up house rights" mean?

Here is the second response from the lawyer after I was not satisfied with his answer:

Dear Mr.....
I had already explained that an additional guarantee is not lawful. If your general contractor insists on it, then you must not build with this business partner.

This has nothing to do with § 632a paragraph 3 of the Construction Code.

HMM.. we want to build with the company.... but now we are just as clueless as before.... and dissatisfied with this lawyer because he did not criticize this in the first contract review and now gives us no solution or alternative...

I cannot simply withhold 5% from the first installment payment (§632) and use this as leverage at the end if there are defects during the final acceptance to offset it? 3.5% would be the final payment after acceptance-ready completion before handover. However, the contract does not mention §632.

HMM.. we want to build with the company.... but now we are just as clueless as before.... and dissatisfied with this lawyer because he did not point this out during the first contract review and now does not offer us any solution or alternative...

I don't know how to put it more gently: Your lawyer did not make a mistake; security deposits are common in our industry. The only thing – in my opinion – he should have checked more carefully to what extent you even understand the "legalese" of construction contracts. More in your next post... sorry, I’m on the road and the quoting function on my phone is annoying... Rhenish greetings from the road Building expert

Can't I just withhold 5% from the first installment payment (§632) and use this as leverage at the end to offset it if there are defects during the final acceptance? 3.5% would be the final payment after acceptance-ready completion before handover. But the contract says nothing about §632

You have no leverage to withhold funds - as far as you have published texts! If the price at the bottom right is so tempting that you can't resist: sign it. But then knowing that you reap what you sow; in all consequences: (Alleged) ignorance does not protect against learning the hard way. If, on the other hand, you want to take something from the answers here: find yourself another construction partner. Rhineland greetings on the go Construction expert

Hello construction expert..... The contract has long since been signed. (Believing after review by my lawyer that everything was in order. I only noticed that something was wrong when the security bond form arrived weeks later by mail. If the lawyer had pointed out BEFORE signing the contract about this bond and its consequences, I would not have signed the contract. That's why there are lawyers... I, as a layman, have no idea! Only now does my lawyer write that this is inadmissible.)