After the acceptance you notice that an assumption important to you is not correct. Perhaps you understood an explanation differently; perhaps only your personal plan has changed. Before you deduce a certain exit from this, the legal advice needs the precise difference. The designation “mistake” alone answers neither the binding effect nor possible claims.
First preserve the declaration made at the time
Keep the declarations actually given and received in their respective versions. This includes relevant messages and documents referred to in the conversation. Separately write down what you assumed at the time of acceptance and on what that assumption was based.
Our editorial recommendation: Keep that former assumption separate from your current assessment. “I assumed that the described item has a certain condition” and “I would now prefer to live differently” describe different starting points. Whether a material mistake exists in law is not decided by that alone.
Do not shorten the statutory requirements
§871 ABGB deals with a mistake about the content of a declaration that concerns the main matter or an essential quality, subject to further requirements. Mentioned are, among other things, inducement by the other party, a mistake that must obviously have been noticed or timely clarification. Abs2 concerns circumstances about which clarification would have been required under applicable law. [IRRTUM]
The provision does not permit a blanket conclusion that every disappointed expectation nullifies a property purchase. Include in parts of the consultation who made which statement when and what the other party knew about your assumption. Do not assert a duty to inform whose existence has not yet been examined.
Explicitly name personal motives
§901 ABGB distinguishes between motive and ultimate purpose in particular according to whether the parties expressly made these a condition. [MOTIV] Whether a concrete agreement has this effect requires legal classification.
An expected job transfer, family planning or an anticipated future benefit must therefore not be tacitly reinterpreted afterwards into an agreed condition. Find the concrete declaration you want to rely on. If it existed only in your thoughts, that must also be disclosed in the consultation.
Hypothetical case: Two dissatisfactions require different questions
A buyer discovers after her acceptance a discrepancy between a received description and the actual object of purchase. At the same time her employer cancels an expected transfer. She initially summarises both as “my mistake in purchase”.
For the review she separates the documents on the property description from her professional motive. She documents in each case what was declared and agreed before the acceptance. Only the consultation assesses whether and which legal consequences result from this. The case does not presuppose either a challenge or a withdrawal.
Coordinate the legal response in good time
Obtain case-specific advice before you give binding declarations on termination of the contract or new payment commitments. Also have relevant deadlines and the further handling of due obligations checked. This article does not formulate an effective challenge nor an instruction to suspend payments unilaterally. Its result is an understandable presentation of your original assumption and its possible legal connection.