Building owners are not obliged to provide building contractors with so-called building contractor insurance. This was recently decided by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Zweibrücken (Ref. 2 O 315/19). In the case in question, a dispute arose between a married couple of builders and a trades company regarding the quality of the construction services provided. The client couple then refused to pay the remaining amount of 8,000 euros.
The construction company refused to accept this and demanded a security deposit such as a bank guarantee for the outstanding amount. The client couple also rejected this. The construction company then went to Landau Regional Court (LG) and was proved right. The Landau Regional Court ordered the client couple to take out builder's risk insurance. In turn, the client couple appealed against this. With success.
According to the Higher Regional Court, the claim of the trade company does not exist because this is a consumer construction contract. To date, there is no consensus in case law as to whether a consumer construction contract also includes the awarding of contracts to different contractors. However, it could make no difference whether a contractor provided all services from a single source or whether the clients awarded the services individually. In addition, property developers could otherwise circumvent the consumer protection regulations by excluding individual services. The OLG allowed the appeal, which was also lodged. The case will therefore now be heard by the Federal Court of Justice.
Source: olgzw.justiz.rlp.de/AZ: 2 O 315/19
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