Statutory limitation

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Document type:	Guidance
Protection level:	normal
Scope:	general
Tags:

Valid:	longterm
Approval:	general

Goals

In order to secure claims against others, it is important to ensure that they do not expire.

This working aid shows which deadlines apply to which claims and what measures should be taken to counteract them or what should be done to ensure that claims do not expire.

Specifications

General

If a claim could not be enforced within the corresponding limitation period and no preventive measures could be taken, it expires. Although the statute of limitations would not mean that a claim no longer exists, the opposing party can then raise the so-called defense of statute of limitations and thus prevent the enforcement of the claim (refuse to provide performance). Statute of limitations means that a claim against another can no longer be enforced because of a period of time in the past if the opposing party invokes it. Nevertheless, the corresponding time-barred claims should be asserted against the respective debtors (see also under 3.) if the other requirements are met; In many cases the defense of statute of limitations will simply not be raised. The limitation periods that must be observed for the respective claims are shown below. (...)

Statute of limitations in detail

Loan

Regardless of whether a recipient of assistance receives a loan for rent debts, deposits, cooperative shares or something else, the same regulations apply to the statute of limitations. Since there are no special regulations for the statute of limitations for loan repayments in SGB

Limitation period

As a rule, the right to repayment of a loan expires three years from the end of the year in which the claim arose and the social welfare agency became aware or should have become aware of the facts giving rise to the claim (/bgb/__195.html §§ 195, 199 BGB).

The claim arises as soon as it can be asserted by way of a lawsuit; The basic requirement for this is that the claim is due (see above under 2.1).

If a due date is already stated in the approval notice (e.g. “the loan is due for repayment when the borrower moves out of the apartment”), the limitation period begins to run at the end of the year in which the social welfare agency became aware of the borrower's move out or should have obtained.

Example On February 3, 2002, a loan for a rental deposit was approved; the notice already announced that it would be repaid if the borrower moved out of the apartment. On August 31, 2005, the aid recipient moves out of the apartment, which the social welfare agency finds out on the same day. The loan is due for repayment from September 1, 2005. It then expires in three years from the end of 2005, i.e. on December 31, 2008.