A house is being offered to you at an unusually low price. You want to agree quickly before the seller reconsider the price. Before you plan on the offer as a legally unproblematic bargain, a possible substantial disparity between performance and counter-performance belongs in the advice.
A low price and a statutory case for rescission are not the same
§934 ABGB provides a framework for rescission in bilateral binding transactions where one party, compared with the common value, does not even receive half of their performance. The other party can, under the provision, maintain the transaction by supplementing it to the common value. Relevant is the value relation at the time the transaction was concluded. [MISSVERHAELTNIS]
This is not an instruction to compare the offered price with any online estimate and to derive a secure claim from that. Which counter-performances count, which value is decisive and which further prerequisites exist must be examined for the specific transaction. The question is also important for the purchasing side because the planned price basis may be affected.
Record the full counter-performance
Our editorial recommendation: Note, alongside the monetary price, every additional service or assumed obligation that is provided for in the transaction. Attach available valuation documents with date and subject. An expert opinion on a different condition or a different legal position should not be adopted unexamined as the basis for today’s valuation.
Have the reason for the low price explained. Is a poorer condition known, is there another encumbrance, or is an intentionally gratuitous element to be included? These points do not change the legal consequences by your private note. They belong in the professional examination of the transaction actually intended.
Hypothetical case: The comparison figure does not match the object of purchase
A buyer compares the price of an encumbered house with an expert opinion that presumes a different legal condition. He therefore considers the low price to be clearly below the statutory threshold. Conversely, the seller assures that any signed price will be immune from challenge later.
Both oversimplify. The buyer has the object, encumbrances, full performances and valuation date examined. The example deliberately does not name an allegedly correct market value. It shows that only appropriate valuation bases can support a legal examination.
Do not replace statutory limits with a standard clause
§935 ABGB contains limits to application, including certain cases of conscious acceptance of value, mixed gifts and judicial auction. [GRENZEN] The article does not decide whether one of these exceptions applies, and does not fully address additional corporate-law rules.
An all-purpose draft formula should therefore not be treated as a guaranteed effective waiver of any subsequent dispute. Please ask the contract adviser for an understandable classification of the concrete constellation. This applies especially in familial or otherwise personally influenced transactions.
Assess the price consciously and comprehensibly
Your purchase plan should not rely on the assumption that an extreme disparity will become meaningless merely through haste, payment or handover of keys. Clarify the question before becoming bound. If a dispute already exists, you need individual advice on prerequisites, possible consequences and deadlines.
An inexpensive acquisition can be viable after examination. What matters is that you understand the actual counter-performance and the legal risk, rather than booking a mere price gap as a safe advantage.