Old acknowledgement of debt, time-barred claim — what applies?

Notarial acknowledgements of debt (Schuldanerkenntnisse) with immediate submission to enforcement are widespread in bank lending — they spare the bank separate court proceedings if the loan is not serviced. Problems arise when the bank enforces such an acknowledgement only years later, after the actual loan claim has long since become time-barred.

The BGH (Federal Court of Justice) has clarified: if the underlying loan claim is time-barred and the acknowledgement of debt is not additionally secured by a land charge (Grundschuld), the debtor can demand the return of the isolated notarial acknowledgement of debt. Enforcement on the basis of it then becomes inadmissible. The reason: unlike a land charge, which under § 216(2) BGB (German Civil Code) remains unaffected by the limitation of the secured claim, a purely personal, isolated acknowledgement of debt lacks this special protection (BGH, judgment of 20.1.2026 – XI ZR 131/24).

For those affected, this means: before paying on an old notarial acknowledgement of debt or accepting enforcement, it is always worth examining two questions. First, is the original loan claim actually not yet time-barred — as a rule, the limitation period is three years from knowledge, often considerably shorter than expected. Second, is there, in addition to the acknowledgement of debt, a security in rem such as a land charge that survives the limitation period? If there is none, the chances of stopping enforcement and demanding the return of the acknowledgement are good.

Particularly in the case of older loans that have not been raised for years, a second look is worthwhile — especially when banks or debt collection companies take up claims from such old contracts again.