An architect commissioned to carry out the basic assessment and design planning is not obliged to protect his client from possible tax damages. This was recently decided by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (OLG, Ref. 29 U 185/20). In this case, clients wanted to renovate their attic apartment and commissioned an architect to provide services. However, they did not pay the architect afterwards.
The reason for this was that they had been falsely told that they did not have to take anything into account with regard to monument protection. If they had been properly informed, they could have had the entire building project subsidized through a special depreciation allowance. As it was, however, they had incurred a tax loss of 5,000 euros, which they retained as a form of compensation.
However, the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main had already awarded the architect the outstanding fee (judgment of 24.08.2020, ref. 2-26 O 117/18). The OLG also ruled in the architect's interest. According to the OLG, although the architect had "failed to inform the client of the need for approval under monument protection law in breach of his duty", "there was [...] no causal link between this breach of duty and the alleged tax loss".
Source: OLG Frankfurt am Main, Ref. 29 U 185/20/ordentliche-gerichtsbarkeit.hessen.de
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