Observation Of The Written Form, Even Without Exchanging Unilaterally Signed Contract Copies

The written form as required for long-term lease agreements is already observed if the lease agreement is documented in two (identical) written copies, which are each signed by only one of the parties, even if the copies are subsequently not sent to the respective other party.

(BGH, judgement of 7 March 2018 – XII ZR 129/16)

INTRODUCTION: The German Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – BGB) prescribes the written form for the effective agreement on a term over one year in lease agreements. In the past, Section 126 BGB was referred to for the criteria necessary for this. This section prescribes that either the document is signed by both parties on the same copy or two identical copies determined each for the other party, each signed by one party only. It was concluded from this that the written form is only complied with in case of separate signing if the copies were also received by the respective other party, that is, if the signed copies were exchanged between