Discovering defects when buying a house in the Netherlands: how does Dutch Law protect your rights?
Let’s imagine a horrible situation that you have bought a house in the Netherlands and later after you signed the purchase agreement, you discover defects and deficiencies. For instance, a fault occurs to the existing equipment like bathtub, lavatory and the existing internal damages of the wall, etc. So then, how could you protect self-interests under such circumstances?
- The importance of the purchase agreement
According to Dutch Civil Law Article 7:1, the purchase and the sale of real estate property must be recorded in a written agreement, i.e., the purchase contract. The purchase agreement can either be drafted in Dutch or in English. You can propose to apply a NVM agreement[1], or a custom agreement drafted by the (private) seller, as long as it is operated under Dutch Law. It is worth noting that the legal rules on defects are not compulsory, which means the parties can agree on extra promises upon the contract. In many situations, the model agreement is used when considering buying or selling existing homes[2]. On the basis of the purchase agreement, all defects to the delivered house are in principle for the account of the buyer, however, an exception is made for defects that can prevent normal use of the home.