Checklist

The handover protocol

Acceptance is the moment when you secure your evidentiary position. This checklist guides you through preparation, walkthrough, defect recording and signature, so that no visible defect and no important detail is lost.

Acceptance of the work is a legally decisive moment. With the handover protocol you record the condition of the building or apartment at handover. It is the most important piece of evidence if a dispute over defects arises later, and it often decides whether a defect counts as already present or not.

The distinction between visible and hidden defects is particularly important. Visible defects, that is those recognisable at acceptance, should be entered in the protocol. If you do not do so and accept without reservation, the contractor may later argue that the defect only arose after handover. Hidden defects, by contrast, remain within the warranty period even if they are not in the protocol.

This checklist is a guide. It does not replace an assessment of the individual case or an expert handover inspection. It helps you to proceed in a structured way and to consider the points most frequently overlooked in practice.

It is best to work through the points on site. You can tick off each point; the status is saved on your device. The buttons let you print or reset the list.

What matters legally

The handover protocol above all serves an evidentiary function. It documents the condition of the work at the time of acceptance and thus also which defects were already recognisable. Visible defects should therefore be recorded. If you accept without reservation, the contractor may later argue that a defect now notified only arose after handover.

Hidden defects that were not recognisable at acceptance remain within the warranty period even if they are not in the protocol. For a building this period is three years from handover (section 933 ABGB). In the first six months the presumption under section 924 ABGB also applies, that a defect that appears was already present at handover.

In a two-sided business transaction the duty to give notice under section 377 UGB is added: the work must be inspected after delivery and a defect notified without undue delay. Where ÖNORM B 2110 has been expressly agreed, supplementary rules on acceptance apply; it does not apply automatically, but only by agreement.

This checklist is a general guide to the Austrian legal position (as of June 2026) and makes no claim to completeness or legal certainty. It does not replace advice in the individual case and is not a finished legal document. Whether a defect was notified in time and correctly depends on the individual case.

Go deeper

Further topics around handover

Handover and notice of defects

The focus page on acceptance of the building, the handover protocol and the deadlines for notice of defects.

Notice of defects and deadlines for a building

How to give legally effective notice of a construction defect: form, content and deadlines under ABGB and UGB.

Construction defects after handover

What rights building owners have after handover and which deadlines run from then on.

Your law firm

BRANDAUER Rechtsanwälte

Salzburg law firm for real estate, construction and corporate law

Every matter is handled by a coordinated team of lawyers, legal staff and specialists. In construction cases we look at contract, evidence, deadlines and commercial consequences together.