No withdrawal notice from your tradesperson: must you pay the bill?

Start with how the contract was concluded

The place where the work is performed is not decisive by itself. An electrician may work in your home although you placed the order earlier at their business premises. Conversely, an oral agreement made at your home may qualify as an off-premises contract. What matters is the actual exchange of declarations and sequence of events under section 312b of the German Civil Code (BGB).

Nor is every order placed by email automatically a distance contract. Section 312c BGB requires, among other things, an organised distance sales or service-provision scheme. In the scaffolding judgment C-564/24, paragraphs 40 and 50 to 53, the CJEU emphasises this separate requirement. Assistance from an architect commissioned by the private customer does not, by itself, remove their consumer status.

What the CJEU decided about completed electrical work

Case C-97/22 concerned an oral contract to renew the electrical installation in a house. Withdrawal information had not been provided. After completion, the customer received the bill and subsequently withdrew. The Essen Regional Court asked the CJEU whether the value retained by the customer could nevertheless justify payment when the conditions for compensation for services were not met.

The CJEU rejected that approach in the circumstances referred to it: following effective withdrawal from the off-premises contract, classified as a service contract, the payment obligation fell away. A general claim to compensate for enrichment could not circumvent the consequences of missing information. The key passages are paragraphs 22 to 27 and 29 to 34. This is an interpretation of EU law, not a payment judgment issued by the CJEU between the parties.

Check the deadline, completion and compensation separately

For the service contracts discussed here, the ordinary withdrawal period is generally 14 days from conclusion of the contract. It does not start without proper withdrawal information, but the right expires no later than twelve months and 14 days after conclusion. Information supplied later can start the 14-day period. The current provisions are sections 355(2) and 356(3) and (4) BGB. The invoice date does not restart that maximum period.

Completion alone does not always terminate the right for paid services. Section 356(5) BGB imposes additional requirements, particularly consent to an early start; point 3 contains a special rule for expressly requested repair visits. Signed additional forms and electronic declarations therefore matter too.

If the right still exists and is validly exercised, compensation for services already performed is now governed by section 357a(2) BGB. It requires an express request for early performance and proper information; for off-premises contracts, that request must have been communicated on a durable medium. The former section 357(8) BGB cited in the 2023 judgment is not the current numbering.

Cases that need a different analysis

For expressly requested urgent repairs or maintenance, section 312g(2), point 11, BGB may exclude withdrawal from the outset. The exception does not automatically cover additional services that were not requested or goods that were not strictly needed. A planned modernisation therefore requires a different assessment from an expressly requested visit to repair an acute burst pipe.

New construction and substantial conversion projects may also fall under the special rules for consumer construction contracts. Sections 312(2), point 3, 650i and 650l BGB show why classification comes before the payment question. This article does not provide a universal rule for unwinding all construction, sales or bespoke-goods contracts.

The 2026 limit: no engineered route to free services

In its judgment of 5 March 2026, C-564/24, the CJEU considers an abuse-of-rights defence concerning a distance contract for scaffolding services. Withdrawal near the end of the extended period is not enough on its own, paragraph 77. There must be objective circumstances defeating the protective purpose and a subjective intention to abuse the right, paragraphs 69 to 72 and 81 to 82.

A contract draft dictated entirely by the customer and a deliberately chosen withdrawal date intended to obtain the benefit without paying may matter. The national court must determine whether abuse actually occurred, considering all circumstances. Our assessment: the judgment creates neither a general duty to pay despite missing information nor a reliable route to free renovation.

How to prepare for a review of your bill

Keep the complete contract history. A useful assessment requires the contract price, private or business purpose, date and place of agreement, any withdrawal information, start and completion dates, and evidence of payment and withdrawal. It is particularly important whether you expressly requested an urgent repair visit or early performance.

Our practical recommendation: clarify the deadline and contract type before relying on an online headline. Withdrawal must be clearly declared to the trader; simply failing to pay is not enough under section 355(1) BGB. Contacting our firm does not replace that declaration or preserve a deadline.