Terms and Conditions
General terms and conditions

§ 1 Scope of application

1. To all our shipments and services, including all future business transactions, exclusively these Terms and Conditions apply. Any deviation from these provisions requires our consent in text form.

2. These General Terms and Conditions supersede all previous versions.

§ 2 Conclusion of the contract

1. The prices specified in our offers and catalogues are subject to confirmation. Contracts become effective with our order confirmation in text form or the delivery of the goods. Unconfirmed orders are therefore not legally binding for us until the goods are delivered.

 2. In the event of discrepancies between the order and the order confirmation, the Ordering Party must contest the order confirmation in text form until 12am CET the following working day of the date of order confirmation; otherwise, the contract will be regarded as concluded at the conditions specified in the order confirmation. 

3. Any modification or cancellation of an order is subject to our consent.

§ 3 Nature of our products

1. Timber is a natural material. Differences in veneer figures, colours or grains cannot be avoided within customary tolerances and do not constitute a reason of complaint.

2. We reserve the right to make technical changes to our products provided that this does not affect their usability. We reserve expressly the right to make minor changes to models, materials, styles of execution and dimensions.

§ 4 Prices and price modifications

1. Our quoted prices are ex works/ex stock, incl. standard packing and excluding VAT. All ancillary costs, such as freight charges, taxes, customs duties, special packing etc., will be paid by the Ordering Party, in advance if required.

2. If the customer wishes the goods to be assorted, a surcharge amounting to 3 % of the total order value in euros will be levied.

3. If there is an increase in the price of raw materials, energy, labour or other costs during the time between the conclusion of the contract and the shipment of the goods, we reserve the right to adjust the prices agreed under the contract accordingly. If the Ordering Party is not engaged in business commercially or independently, we may only adjust our prices if the period between the conclusion of the contract and the delivery of the goods is longer than 4 months.

§ 5 Terms of payment

1. Payment is due within 14 days from the date of invoice without deduction. If the Ordering Party fails to pay the amount due within this period, he/she is in default without prior notification. This also applies to invoices for partial shipments. Compliance with payment deadlines is decided solely by the receipt of the amount due in our bank account. This also applies to payments made by cheque or bill of exchange, which we are not obliged to accept, however, any costs incurred by these will be charged to the Ordering Party.

2. If the Ordering Party fails to pay within the agreed period, we reserve the right to demand immediate payment of all obligations without deduction, including those which we have deferred or for which we have accepted a cheque or bill of exchange. This also applies to cases where circumstances become apparent that justify doubts about the Ordering Party’s ability to pay or his/her creditworthiness, particularly in the event of voluntary bankruptcy.

3. In the event of default of payment, interest will be charged at the rate of the statutory default interest rate prevailing at that time in the Federal Republic of Germany. We reserve the right to claim compensation for the actual damage if it exceeds the amount of the interests.

4. The Ordering Party may only offset with uncontested or legally valid claims. His/her right of retention is limited to these cases as well.

5. If justified doubts about the Ordering Party’s ability to pay or his/her creditworthiness become apparent after the conclusion of the contract, we are entitled to refuse performance of the contract until the Ordering Party has performed his/her part of the contract or provided sufficient security. We are entitled to claim payment or security from the Ordering Party within two weeks after conclusion of the contract and may resign from the contract if this period expires unsuccessfully.

6. For international orders (delivery to a destination outside of the Federal Republic of Germany), delivery will only take place after full payment by the Ordering Party, unless expressly agreed in text form otherwise.

§ 6 Delivery/Shipment

1. For domestic orders (delivery to a destination within the Federal Republic of Germany) the risk passes to the Ordering Party in ex works shipments. If shipment is delayed for reasons attributable to the Ordering Party, the risk passes over with the notification that the goods are ready for shipment. In this case, it is at our complete discretion to put the goods into storage at the expense of the Ordering Party. Furthermore, we can withdraw from the contract and/or claim damages instead of performance if a period of grace of 14 days was granted to the Ordering Party for the acceptance of the goods and this period has expired unsuccessfully.

2. For international orders (delivery to a destination outside of the Federal Republic of Germany), unless expressly agreed in text form otherwise, the EXW (ex works) clause shall apply from the Bocholt site pursuant to ICC Incoterms ® 2010. It is incumbent upon the Ordering Party to obtain and effect a covering transport insurance (door-to-door), the costs of which shall be borne by the Ordering Party.

3. Transport damage must be reported to us immediately upon receipt of the goods and specified on the note of delivery or shipping bill. In this case, the Ordering Party shall keep the packing materials. An insurance against breakage or other transport damage will only be taken out at the explicit request and at the expense of the Ordering Party.

§ 7 Deadlines and delivery periods

1. Deadlines and delivery periods are only estimates and are subject to our explicit confirmation in text form.

2. Delivery periods begin with the date of the order confirmation in text form, but not before the agreed advance has been credited to our account. If the performance of the service is subject to the Ordering Party’s co-operation, the delivery period will not begin until the Ordering Party has performed its co-operation obligations.

3. Our obligation to deliver is suspended until the Ordering Party has paid all amounts due under this or previous contracts.

4. Periods of grace have to be set in text form to us. They are only appropriate if they extend over at least 10 working days and in case of custom-made products over at least 20 working days. Working days are all weekdays except Saturdays.

5. If for a call order, a delivery week was agreed, the Ordering Party is obliged to call off the ordered goods latest within 4 weeks from the agreed delivery week. If the Ordering Party fails to call off the ordered goods within this period, we reserve the right to invoice the respective goods immediately to the Ordering Party and charge the respective storage costs to the Ordering Party.

§ 8 Force majeure

1. Should we be prevented temporarily from performing our obligation or should the performance be impeded by events of force majeure or other exceptional causes that are beyond our responsibility, the agreed performance period shall be extended by the duration of the impediment. The same applies to periods of grace granted for performance by the Ordering Party, particularly for periods of grace according to Art. 281 Par. 1 and Art. 323 Par. 1 of the German Civil Code (BGB). The Ordering Party is not entitled to withdraw from the contract or claim damages until the extended performance period has expired unsuccessfully. If the Ordering Party is entitled by law or by contract to withdraw from the contract without granting a period of grace, this right remains unaffected.

2. If the performance of the obligation is impeded for longer than for 2 months, both parties are entitled to withdraw from the contract, but only to the extent to which it cannot be performed.

3. Wars, war-like disorders, mobilization, import and export bans and blockades are considered as events of force majeure. Other exceptional circumstances beyond our responsibility are in particular transport impediments, operational breakdowns, delayed raw material deliveries, strikes, lockouts and other labour disputes, even if only our subcontractors are affected by these. The Ordering Party will be notified about the occurrence of those impediments and their termination.

§ 9 Faults

1. Goods are considered to be faulty if they have any defects or damage or if their properties deviate in any way from those agreed per contract, including erroneously delivered goods and deviations from ordered quantities.

2. The Ordering Party shall report obvious faults to us in writing within one week of the receipt of the goods. If he/she fails do so, the goods will be considered as accepted.

3. If the Ordering Party is registered as a commercial company, the statutory regulations concerning inspection and complaint shall apply (Art. 377 HGB German Commercial Code). In this case, the Ordering Party shall be responsible for inspecting all goods immediately upon delivery thereof and shall report any obvious faults in text form to LEBO no later than seven days after delivery. Any faults detected at a later time shall be reported to LEBO immediately but no later than within three weekdays of their detection. All notices of defect shall be made in writing and shall state precisely the nature of the fault. If faults are not reported to LEBO within the stipulated periods, the delivered goods will be regarded as accepted.

4. If justified complaints are received in time, we have the option of either repairing or replacing the goods. The Ordering Party may fix a reasonable deadline for the correction of the faults. This period shall extend over at least 10 working days and in case of custom-made products over at least 20 working days. Working days are all weekdays except Saturdays.

5. If we fail twice to correct the faults or if the period stipulated by the Ordering Party in accordance with Par. 4 expires unsuccessfully, the Ordering Party may reduce the price of the goods or withdraw from the contract. If the Ordering Party reduces the price of the goods for the afore-mentioned reasons, he/she cannot withdraw from the contract because of the same fault. The Ordering Party in only entitled to claim damages if the statutory conditions and conditions stipulated by Par. 10 are complied with.

6. The limitation period for all rights of the Ordering Party with respect to defects in the delivered goods is reduced to one year from the date of delivery. This reduction of the period of limitation does not apply to damages brought about wilfully, by gross negligence, or to cases of physical or mortal injury. Neither does it apply if the Ordering Party takes recourse for claims that have been put forward to him/her or to one of his/her customers by a consumer because of this defect.

§ 10 Liability

1. We assume liability in accordance with statutory regulations for violations of our obligations brought about wilfully or by gross negligence or for damages resulting from physical or mortal injury. We hereby expressly exclude liability claims in the USA and Canada for damages caused by mould infestation.

2. Beyond this, we will only assume liability if the violated contract obligation was decisive for the fulfilment of the contract. This liability is limited to the extent of the typical, foreseeable, average damage.

3. These limits of liability apply accordingly to other damage claims not covered by contract, especially those arising from unlawful acts, with the exception of claims founded on the product liability law. These limits shall also apply in favour of our employees, representatives and vicarious agents in the fulfilment of the contract.

§ 11 Reservation of title

1. Ownership of the goods shall not pass to the Ordering Party until all sums due on any account from the Ordering Party have been paid in full and all bills of exchange or cheques we accepted from the Ordering Party have been credited to our account. If payment is made by cheque, bill of exchange or any other procedure in which we sign as the issuer or endorser a bill of exchange accepted by the Ordering Party for discounting purposes, payment shall not be considered to be made and ownership of the goods shall not pass to the Ordering Party until he/she has redeemed all bills of exchange and released us from our liability in respect to the undersigned bill of exchange.

2. The Ordering Party shall take out an adequate insurance against fire, burglary/theft and water damages for the goods under reservation of title (contract goods). The claims for indemnification covered by the insurance contract shall be transferred to us to the extent of our secured claims on conclusion of the contract.

3. In the event of the seizure of goods under reservation of title, the Ordering Party must inform the bailiff or judgement creditor to this effect without delay. The Ordering Party must also inform us about the seizure, first by telephone and subsequently in writing by registered post, confirming that he/she has informed the bailiff and creditor about the reservation of title. The seized goods must be marked precisely.

4. The Ordering Party may only resell goods through regular business transactions. The obligation of the Ordering Party under the resale contract shall be transferred to us to the extent of our secured claims on conclusion of the contract. Notwithstanding our own competence to collect sums due, the Ordering Party is entitled to collect the sums due from the transferred obligation as long as he/she meets his/her contractual obligations under this contract. On our request, the Ordering Party shall inform us on the nature and scope of the transferred obligation, name the creditors and hand over all documents required to impose our claims.

5. If the Ordering Party resells the goods on credit, he/she must reserve the title to the goods towards his/her Ordering Party in accordance with these terms and conditions. The Ordering Party transfers all rights arising from the reservation of title under the resale contract to us.

6. In the event that the Ordering Party does not meet his/her obligations under this contract, or delays his/her performance or submits the goods to any inadmissible procedures, we shall be entitled to claim the return of the goods delivered under reservation of title without granting a period of grace, and assert the prolonged right in the property of the goods notwithstanding the supplier’s right to performance of the contract. The goods shall be returned to us free of freight charges and expenses.

§ 12 Place of fulfilment, place of jurisdiction, applicable law

1. Place of fulfilment for all obligations under the contract is Bocholt in Germany.

2. If the Ordering Party is registered as a commercial company, public corporation or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all claims under this contract, including all disputes concerning cheques, bills of exchange and legal documents, will be Bocholt in Germany. We are also entitled, however, to bring legal action against the Ordering Party at his/her general place of jurisdiction.

3. All contracts with customers who have their residence or seat of business abroad are subject to German law. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is excluded.

§ 13 Validity of the contract

If any of the afore-mentioned provisions should become ineffective, the validity of the other provisions shall not be affected.