Did not notice the inscription, lost a third of the money. An important ruling of the European Court of Justice

This is a case from Germany, where an apartment tenant realized that his monthly rent exceeded the ranges allowed under national regulations.

So this person asked the debt collection company to recover the overpaid rent from the landlords. Before pressing the request button on the debt collector’s website, the tenant indicated his acceptance of the general terms and conditions of the contract. However, he did not notice that according to the terms of the contract, by pressing the order, he agreed to give the debt collector a third of the excess amount Annual rent if the company can recover its money.

The case was brought to court by the lessor who filed a claim with the debt collector, who pointed out that the order button was not marked with the words “order with obligation to pay” or similar words, as required by the EU Consumer Rights Directive. The German court referred the case to the European Court of Justice.

The court ruled on Thursday that under EU rules, a businessman is in fact obliged to inform a consumer before he or she places an online order that by placing an order, he or she undertakes to pay.

The obligation to inform the client lies with the entrepreneur regardless of whether the obligation to pay is unconditional or depends on additional circumstances (in the case in question: effective recovery of the excess paid rent).

According to the European Court of Justice, if a company fails to fulfill its obligation to provide information, the consumer is not bound by the contract or order. However, you still have the option to confirm this order.