defects liability period

noun · Verjährung der Mängelansprüche

For a building the statutory period for defect claims is five years from acceptance, § 634a BGB, and the industry conditions of the VOB/B shorten it to four. Which applies therefore depends on whether those conditions were validly incorporated, and the English phrase defects liability period suggests a contractual warranty window where German law is talking about limitation.

Which translation, when

fünf Jahre ab Abnahmethe statutory period: claims for defects in a work consisting in the construction of a building become time-barred five years after acceptance, § 634a BGB, while works of another kind run on shorter periods and fraudulent concealment moves the claim to the ordinary rules; the moment the clock starts is the acceptance the acceptance of works entry holds.

vier Jahre nach VOB/Bthe contractual variant: where the industry conditions are incorporated they replace the statutory period with four years for structural works, which is why the first question in a German defects file is whether the VOB/B apply at all, and the answer depends on the incorporation rules the standard terms entry governs.

Wortwahlwhat the German phrase actually says: German practice speaks of Gewährleistungsfrist in everyday usage, but the statute speaks of Verjährung, a limitation period barring an existing claim rather than a window during which liability exists at all; the difference matters because a time-barred claim can still be raised as a defence in certain constellations, which no liability window would allow.

Why

Defects liability period is the phrase English building contracts use, and translating it requires two decisions. The first is which period applies. Under § 634a BGB claims for defects in a work consisting in the construction of a building are time-barred five years after acceptance, other works carrying shorter periods, and a defect the contractor fraudulently concealed falls back to the ordinary limitation rules with their longer reach. Where the VOB/B are incorporated, the industry conditions substitute a four-year period for structural works, and since they are contract terms rather than law, everything turns on whether they were validly incorporated, which the standard terms entry governs. A German defects file therefore begins with that question rather than with the calendar. The second decision is conceptual and easier to miss. English usage treats the defects liability period as a window during which the contractor is answerable, so that liability simply ends when it expires. The German statute speaks of Verjährung, limitation: the claim continues to exist but can no longer be enforced against the debtor’s objection, which is why a time-barred defect claim can still be relied on as a defence against the outstanding price in the constellations the law allows. Everyday German practice blurs this by saying Gewährleistungsfrist, and a translation that carries the English liability-window idea into a German contract can create a clause that means less than the parties intended. The starting date in every version is acceptance, held by the acceptance of works entry.

Typical mistakes

The statutory period for buildings is five years and the VOB/B period four, so the answer depends on whether the industry conditions were validly incorporated.
Verjährung bars enforcement rather than ending liability, so treating the period as a liability window misdescribes what expiry does.
Fraudulent concealment takes the claim out of the special period, so a contractor who hid a defect cannot rely on it.

What matters

Advising on a defect notified years after completion: the analysis should establish the date of acceptance, decide whether the statutory or the VOB/B period governs, and check whether concealment removes the limitation defence.

Authority

§ 634a BGB

What the machine misses

The engine turns defects liability period into Mängelhaftungszeitraum or Haftungsfrist, words German construction law does not use, and the statute works with the Verjährung der Mängelansprüche, five years from acceptance for buildings under § 634a BGB and four under the incorporated industry conditions; the calque also suggests that liability ends with the period, whereas limitation only bars enforcement.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

the defects liability period	die Verjährungsfrist für Mängelansprüche
five years from acceptance	fünf Jahre ab der Abnahme
the claim is time-barred	der Anspruch ist verjährt
fraudulently concealed defect	arglistig verschwiegener Mangel

More notes on these sections

limitation period Verjährungsfrist