Terms of business

These terms apply to every contract for building cleaning and related services between Musterreinigung Berlin GmbH (the “contractor”) and its clients.

They apply only to entrepreneurs within the meaning of § 14 of the German Civil Code, to legal persons under public law and to public-law special funds. Conflicting or differing terms put forward by the client are not accepted unless we have agreed to them expressly in text form.

Our quotations are without engagement unless expressly stated to be binding. A quotation stated to be binding is held open for 30 days from receipt.

A contract comes into being on our order confirmation in text form, or when we begin performing. The price range produced by the estimator on this website is a non-binding guide, not an offer.

The type, extent and frequency of the services follow from the specification, which forms part of the contract. Where the specification and these terms conflict, the specification prevails.

Work going beyond the specification — deep cleans, post-construction cleaning or cleaning after an incident, for instance — is ordered separately and charged on a time-and-materials basis.

All prices are net and exclusive of value added tax at the applicable rate. They are based on the wage and wage-related costs of the building cleaning trade in force when the contract is made.

If the rates under the generally binding collective agreement for the building cleaning trade change, the agreed price changes by the same percentage at the same time. We evidence the change in text form at least four weeks before it takes effect. Any further price adjustment requires agreement.

Charges are invoiced monthly in arrears and fall due within 14 days of the invoice date without deduction.

Statutory rules apply on late payment. Set-off against disputed counterclaims, or counterclaims not established by a final judgment, is excluded.

The client ensures that cleaning staff can access the premises during the agreed times and provides water, electricity and a lockable room for equipment and materials free of charge. Where a service cannot be performed for reasons within the client's responsibility, the charge remains payable.

Keys and access media handed over are recorded, issued against signature and kept in a secured depot outside working hours. We report the loss of a key without delay; clause 11 governs the consequences.

We use our own directly employed staff, subject to social insurance contributions. Engaging subcontractors requires the client's prior agreement in text form.

The client undertakes not to solicit the contractor's staff during the contract and for twelve months afterwards. A contractual penalty is agreed for each breach, the amount of which we determine at our reasonable discretion and which a court may review in the event of a dispute.

Complaints must be notified in text form without delay, and at the latest within two working days of the work being carried out, so that the service can be put right.

We remedy notified defects by re-performance. The client's further statutory remedies arise only once re-performance has failed or we have seriously and finally refused it.

We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and for damage arising from injury to life, body or health.

In cases of ordinary negligence we are liable only for breach of a material contractual duty — one whose performance makes proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance the client may regularly rely. In that case liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical of this type of contract. Liability under the German Product Liability Act is unaffected.

We carry public liability insurance including cover for lost keys and for damage caused while working. We evidence the sums insured on request by means of a confirmation from the insurer.

The contract runs for an indefinite period unless otherwise agreed. Either side may terminate it on three months' notice to the end of a quarter.

The right to terminate for good cause without notice is unaffected. Every termination must be in text form.

Both sides keep confidential any trade and business secrets that come to their knowledge, including after the contract ends. Our staff are placed under a duty of confidentiality. Our privacy notice governs the processing of personal data in detail; where processing on behalf is involved, the parties conclude an agreement under Article 28 GDPR.

German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship is Berlin, provided the client is a merchant, a legal person under public law or a public-law special fund.

If any provision of these terms is or becomes invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions is unaffected. Amendments and additions to the contract must be in text form.