When do I need original documents?

The question often arises as to which original documents should be kept or whether a scan is legally sufficient. Keyword rental agreement, keyword business documents. We shed light on the paragraphs.

Regulatory letters

Numerous government agencies letters or notices, that were created by machine without a signature can be stored digitally. If you want to know exactly, here in technical terms: Here, Section 37 (5) of the Administrative Procedure Act exceptionally allows you to omit the signature and naming of machine-generated decisions, so that the administrative act is still valid.

Rental agreement: original or copy?

The law does not even provide for a mandatory written form for the residential rental agreement. Only if a contract is to be concluded for a specific period of time but lasts longer than one year, must the contract be signed by hand. If not, it is still valid for an indefinite period in accordance with Section 550 BGB.

Put more simply and often unknown: Will the Contract not concluded in writing, is he not ineffective. It can also be terminated properly, but at the earliest at the end of one year after provision of the living space. This applies if the rental agreement has not been concluded in writing for a period longer than one year.

Nevertheless, most will have a written rental agreement. The simple reason: This makes it easier to prove the terms of the rental agreement in the event of a dispute. However There are no regulations that prevent you from saving your co-contract as a scan. There is also no falsification or alteration of documents that could be relevant under criminal law (Sections 267 et seq. of the Criminal Code), because you do not want to falsify a genuine document and do not want to use it to deceive legal transactions.

However, if you dispute the tenancy in court (such as the admissibility of a rent increase), you can first attach a digital copy to a pleading with the court submit. This A copy of the rental agreement is usually completely sufficient for the courts. Only when the Landlord/opposing party denied in the lawsuitWhether the Rental agreement scan is valid or the content of the scan differs from the actual content Would you have to the Show the original document (your signed copy) to the court. If there are still doubts, a manuscript report of the signatures would be required.

By the way: 💡 Do you know what the Difference between written form and text form is? Our article shows it.

Business receipts or documents:

The situation is still different with business receipts and documents. When you entrepreneurs Are and a If you receive an invoice by post, you must keep the original for up to ten years. However, you can also provide this as a scan for the tax office. The originals can only be required during a document check (tax audit). Since this exam must be registered several weeks in advance, you have enough time, the required Original documents to order.

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