acceptance of works

Which translation, when

Why

Acceptance of works translates as Abnahme, and no term in German construction practice carries more consequences at once. Section 640 Abs. 1 BGB obliges the employer to accept a work produced in conformity with the contract unless acceptance is excluded by the nature of the work, and it allows refusal only on account of material defects. What counts as insignificant is measured by usability, so a punch list of cosmetic items does not justify withholding acceptance, and an employer who withholds it anyway falls into default of acceptance. Acceptance can be declared expressly, but also by conduct: taking the building into use without complaint or paying the price can amount to it. Abs. 2 adds the fiction that dominates practice. If the contractor sets a reasonable deadline for acceptance and the employer does not refuse within it while naming at least one defect, the work counts as accepted, and against a consumer only where the contractor pointed out that consequence in text form. This version dates from the 2018 reform and shifted the focus: the old rule asked whether the work was objectively fit for acceptance, which the contractor had to prove, while the new one asks what the employer did, so pre-2018 commentary describes a different mechanism. Four consequences follow acceptance and a translation should carry all of them. The remuneration falls due; the risk passes to the employer; the limitation period for defect claims begins, which the defects liability period entry holds; and the burden of proof reverses, so from that moment the employer must prove any defect he alleges. A further trap sits in Abs. 3: an employer who accepts knowing of a defect loses his claims for it unless he reserves them at acceptance.

Typical mistakes

• Acceptance may be refused only for material defects, § 640 Abs. 1 BGB, so withholding it over minor items puts the employer in default rather than the contractor.
• Silence after a properly set deadline counts as acceptance, so an employer who simply does not answer accepts the work.
• Accepting with knowledge of a defect and without reserving the claims loses them, so the reservation at acceptance is not a formality.

What matters

Handling a German acceptance procedure for a foreign employer: the advice should treat the deadline as decisive, require at least one named defect in any refusal, and reserve all known defects expressly in the acceptance record.

Examples