BGH, judgment of 23 January 2026 \u2013 V ZR 91\/25<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
When purchasing an apartment or commercial unit from a property developer, buyers usually sign a detailed contract. Many provisions may initially appear to be mere formalities. However, clauses allowing later amendments to the declaration of division (Teilungserkl\u00e4rung) can have significant legal consequences.<\/p>\n
In its judgment of 23 January 2026, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) clarified that a property developer cannot use pre-formulated contractual clauses to secure an unlimited right to amend the Teilungserkl\u00e4rung unilaterally at a later stage.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
Amendment powers must have clear limits<\/b><\/p>\n
In the case before the court, the developer agreement contained a clause requiring the buyers to consent to certain subsequent amendments to the Teilungserkl\u00e4rung. The planned changes concerned the structure and legal division of the property.<\/p>\n
The BGH held that such a provision, if included as a standard contractual term (Allgemeine Gesch\u00e4ftsbedingung, AGB), may be invalid if it does not make clear under which specific circumstances the developer may require an amendment<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Section 308 No. 4 of the German Civil Code (BGB) is particularly important in this context. The provision limits the ability of companies to reserve, in standard contractual terms, the right to subsequently alter the agreed performance or contractual conditions.<\/p>\n
According to the BGH, the buyer must be able to understand in advance that an amendment may only be required where there are legitimate and substantial reasons (triftige Gr\u00fcnde)<\/b>. These reasons must also be described sufficiently clearly in the contract so that the interests of the other contracting party are appropriately taken into account.<\/p>\n
What does the judgment mean for developers and buyers?<\/b><\/p>\n
The judgment is particularly relevant to the drafting and review of developer agreements.<\/p>\n
For buyers<\/b>, this means that a broadly worded amendment power does not necessarily give the developer the right to make any changes it wishes at a later stage. In particular, amendments to the Teilungserkl\u00e4rung may be subject to judicial review.<\/p>\n
For developers<\/b>, the judgment highlights the importance of precise contractual drafting. General provisions granting overly broad powers to make subsequent changes may not withstand judicial review under the rules governing standard contractual terms.<\/p>\n
Another important point is that if the buyer’s obligation to consent to an amendment is included in AGB and is invalid under \u00a7 308 No. 4 BGB, it generally cannot simply be \u201csaved\u201d by relying on the principle of good faith under \u00a7 242 BGB.<\/p>\n
What should be checked before signing the contract?<\/b><\/p>\n
When reviewing a developer agreement, attention should not be limited to the purchase price, scope of construction works and completion deadlines. The following provisions may also have significant legal importance:<\/p>\n
The BGH judgment once again demonstrates that the more significantly a contractual provision affects the buyer’s rights, the more precisely its grounds and limits must be defined.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
For this reason, both buyers and developers should consider having such provisions reviewed before entering into the notarised agreement<\/b>, in order to identify potential legal risks at an early stage.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BGH, judgment of 23 January 2026 \u2013 V ZR 91\/25 When purchasing an apartment or commercial unit from a property developer, buyers usually sign a detailed contract. Many provisions may initially appear to be mere formalities. However, clauses allowing later amendments to the declaration of division (Teilungserkl\u00e4rung) can have significant legal consequences. In its judgment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1472,1460,1467,1461,1458,352,1455,1456,28,1473,709,1474,1471,1462,1009,1469,1313,1079,1470,1475,1083,1459,1457,1306,1464,1297,1466,1290,1468,1463,1465,20],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag--308-no-4-bgb","tag--308-nr-4-bgb","tag-agb","tag-agb-recht","tag-anderungsvollmacht","tag-baurecht","tag-bautragerrecht","tag-bautragervertrag","tag-bgh","tag-buyer-protection","tag-construction-law-germany","tag-contract-law","tag-developer-agreement","tag-erwerberschutz","tag-german-law","tag-german-real-estate-law","tag-immobilienkauf","tag-immobilienrecht","tag-property-developer","tag-property-purchase-germany","tag-real-estate-law","tag-teilungserklarung","tag-v-zr-91-25","tag-wohnungseigentumsrecht","tag-dogovor-s-zastrojshhikom","tag-zastrojshhik","tag-zashhita-pokupatelej","tag-nedvizhimost-v-germanii","tag-nemeczkoe-dogovornoe-pravo","tag-nemeczkoe-pravo","tag-prava-pokupatelej","tag-stroitelnoe-pravo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":728,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sugrobov.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}