Terms and Conditions
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
Sachverständigenbüro Alexander Dupp & Kollegen
Stand April 2022
- The legal relationship between the publicly appointed surveyor and a client shall be governed by the following contractual terms and conditions.
- Any terms and conditions of business of the client deviating from these terms and conditions shall only become part of the contract if they are expressly acknowledged by the surveyor in writing.
- The acceptance of the order as well as agreements, assurances or subsidiary agreements made orally, by telephone or by employees require the written confirmation of the expert to become effective.
- The object of the order is any kind of expert activity, such as ascertainment of facts, presentation of empirical principles, determination of causes, evaluation, verification, procurement of documents, information, and inspections. This activity can also be carried out within the scope of arbitration or arbitration-related activities.
- The subject of the expert opinion and the purpose for which it is to be used must be specified in writing when the order is placed.
- §3 (Execution of the order)
- The assignment shall be performed impartially and to the best of his knowledge and belief, in accordance with the principles applicable to a publicly appointed and sworn Expert.
- The Expert can only guarantee a certain success, in particular a result desired by the Principal, within the scope of objective and impartial application of his expertise.
- The Expert shall render his expert opinion in person. Insofar as it is necessary or expedient and the Expert's personal responsibility is maintained, the Expert may avail himself of the assistance of expert employees and assistants in the preparation of the expert opinion.
- If the involvement of experts from other disciplines is necessary for the proper completion of the assignment, they shall be commissioned by the Principal.
- In all other respects, the Expert shall be entitled, at the Principal's expense, to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of the necessary and customary investigations at his due discretion, to make inquiries, to conduct investigations, to undertake trips and inspections, and to take or arrange for the taking of photographs and drawings, without the Principal's special consent being required for this. Insofar as unforeseen or time-consuming or costly investigations are required in relation to the purpose of the expert opinion, the prior consent of the Principal shall be obtained.
- The Principal shall authorize the Expert to obtain the information necessary for the preparation of the expert opinion from the parties involved, authorities and third parties and to carry out surveys. If necessary, the Principal shall issue a special power of attorney for this purpose.
- The expert opinion shall be provided within the agreed period of time.
- A single copy of the written elaboration shall be made available to the Principal. Additional copies will be invoiced separately. Provided PDF files are also subject to the author's copyrights.
- After completion of the order and payment of the remuneration, the Expert shall return the documents provided to him by the Principal for the performance of the expert opinion order without being requested to do so.
- §4 (Duties of the Principal)
- The Principal shall not issue any instructions to the Expert that could falsify his actual findings or the result of his expert opinion.
- The Principal shall ensure that the Expert receives all information and documents (e.g. invoices, drawings, calculations, correspondence) required for the execution of the order free of charge and in due time. The Expert shall be informed in good time and without special request of all processes and circumstances that could be of significance for the preparation of the expert opinion.
- §5 (Confidentiality of the Expert)
- Pursuant to Section 203 (2) No. 5 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), the Expert shall be subject to a duty of confidentiality punishable by law. Accordingly, the Expert shall also be contractually prohibited from disclosing, passing on or exploiting without authorization the expert opinion itself or any facts or documents entrusted to him or otherwise becoming known to him while his expert activities. The obligation to maintain secrecy includes all facts that are not in the public domain and applies beyond the duration of the contractual relationship.
- This duty of confidentiality shall also apply to all people working in the Expert's company. The Expert shall ensure that the duty of confidentiality is observed by the aforementioned people.
- The Expert is authorized to disclose, pass on or use for his purposes the knowledge gained during the preparation of the expert opinion if he is obliged to do so by law or if his client expressly releases him from the duty of confidentiality in writing.
- The Expert shall retain the copyright to the services provided by him, insofar as they are copyrightable.
- In this respect, the Principal may use the expert opinion prepared within the scope of the order, including all lists, calculations and other details, only for the purpose for which it is intended as agreed.
- The Principal shall only be permitted to pass on the expert opinion to third parties, to use it in any other way or to change or shorten the text with the written consent of the expert.
- Publication of the expert opinion shall in any case require the written consent of the expert.
- The Expert shall be entitled to payment of a fee. The amount of the remuneration shall be based on the express agreement. The remuneration includes the general office expenses of the Expert.
- In addition, incidental costs and expenses may be claimed in the amount actually incurred (against appropriate evidence) or in the agreed amount (without evidence).
- If the expert is appointed in court from this matter, the client shall bear the difference between the remuneration paid by the court and the fee rates agreed here.
- For all contracts, value added tax shall be added to the remuneration and expenses in the amount determined by law at the time of invoicing.
- §8 (Payment—Default of Payment)
- The agreed fee shall be due before receipt of the expert opinion by the Principal. The postal delivery of the expert opinion with simultaneous collection of the fee by cash on delivery is permissible. Usually, an advance payment is due, see DL InfoV. Payment orders or checks shall only be accepted by special agreement, with all collection and discount charges being charged, and only because of payment.
- If the Principal is in default of payment of the fee, the Expert may withdraw from the contract after setting a reasonable grace period or claim damages for non-performance. Subject to the assertion of further damages, in the event of default in payment, interest on arrears shall be payable at 5% above the respective prime rate of the Deutsche Bundesbank, plus VAT in each case. They are to be set higher or lower if the Expert proves a charge with a higher interest rate or the Principal proves a lower charge.
- Non-compliance with payment terms or circumstances which call into question the creditworthiness of the Principal shall result in all claims of the Expert becoming due immediately. In such cases, the surveyor shall be entitled to withdraw from the contract after a reasonable period of grace or to claim damages for non-performance. The same shall apply in the event of dishonour of checks, cessation of payments, bankruptcy, or request for a settlement by the customer.
- The OP may only offset claims of the expert if the OP's counterclaim is undisputed or a legally binding title exists. The Principal may assert a right of retention insofar as it is based on claims arising from the contract concluded.
- §9 (Exceeding the deadline)
- The time limit for delivery of the expert opinion (cf. § 3 Para. 7) shall commence upon conclusion of the contract. If the Expert requires documents from the Principal for the preparation of the expert opinion (cf. § 4 Para. 2) or if the payment of an advance payment has been agreed, the period shall not commence until the documents have been received. Or of the advance payment.
- If the delivery date is exceeded, the OP may only withdraw from the contract or demand compensation in the event of a delay in performance for the expert or impossibility for which the expert is responsible.
- The Expert shall only be in default if he is responsible for the delay in delivery of the expert opinion. In the event of impediments to delivery for which the Expert is not responsible, such as cases of force of circumstances, illness, strike and lockout, which are due to an event for which he is not responsible and which lead to serious operational disruptions, the Expert shall not be in default of delivery. The delivery period shall be extended accordingly, and the OP may not derive any claims for damages from this. If such obstacles to delivery make it completely impossible for the expert to provide the expert opinion, he shall be released from his contractual obligations. In this case, too, the OP shall not be entitled to claim damages.
- In addition to delivery, the Principal may only demand compensation for damages caused by delay if the Expert can be proven to have acted with intent or gross negligence.
- The Principal and the Expert may terminate the contract at any time for good cause. The termination must be declared in text form.
- Important reasons entitling the Principal to terminate the contract include withdrawal of the public appointment by the competent appointing authority or a breach of the obligations to provide an objective, independent and impartial expert opinion.
- Significant reasons entitling the Expert to terminate the contract include refusal of the Client to cooperate as required; an attempt by the Client to exert an inadmissible influence on the Expert which may falsify the result of the expert opinion (cf. Section 4 (1)); if the Client is in default of payment; if the Client becomes insolvent; if the Expert discovers after accepting the assignment that he/she lacks the expertise required to complete the assignment.
- Otherwise, termination of the contract shall be excluded.
- If the contract is terminated for good cause for which the Expert is responsible, he shall be entitled to remuneration for the partial performance rendered up to the time of termination only to the extent that this is objectively usable for the Principal.
- In all other cases, the Expert shall retain the right to the contractually agreed fee, but after deduction of any expenses saved. If the Principal does not prove a higher share of saved expenses in the individual case, this shall be agreed at 40% of the fee for the services not yet, performed by the Expert.
- As a warranty, the Principal may initially only demand free-of-charge rectification of the proven, possibly defective expert opinion.
- Defects must be reported to the Expert in writing immediately after they have been detected; otherwise, the warranty claim shall expire.
- Without warranted characteristics, a claim for damages shall remain unaffected.
- The Expert shall only be liable for damages – irrespective of the legal grounds – if he or his employees have caused the damages intentionally or by gross negligence due to a defective expert opinion. All claims for damages beyond this are excluded. This shall also apply to damage caused during the on-site visit or during the rectification of defects.
- The rights of the AG from warranty according to § 11 are not affected by this. The claims due to delay in delivery are conclusively regulated in § 9.
- Claims for damages shall become statute-barred after 2 years. The limitation period shall commence upon receipt of the expert opinion by the OP.
- § 13 (Place of Performance and Jurisdiction)
- The place of performance shall be the professional establishment of the Expert.
- If the Principal is a fully qualified merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the Expert's principal place of business shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction.
- The same place of jurisdiction as in Clause 2 shall apply if the Principal does not have a general place of jurisdiction in Germany, has moved his place of residence or habitual abode out of Germany after conclusion of the contract or if his place of residence or habitual abode is unknown at the time of the action is brought.
- § 14 (Severability clause)
Should any provision of this contract be invalid, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this contract. The contracting parties shall be obliged to replace the invalid provision with a legally valid provision that comes as close as possible to the invalid provision in economic terms and in spirit.
The Expert points out that he is neither obliged nor willing to participate in a dispute resolution procedure before a consumer arbitration board according to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Act.