Introduction
Disputes over real estate, construction or leases always revolve around a specific object, and that sets them apart from other commercial conflicts: the urgency is high, the interests are substantial, and the situation can seldom be reversed. They arise on both the claimant's and the defendant's side, and the outcome often depends on acting swiftly and correctly in relation to the object itself: having a defect established, enforcing delivery, initiating an eviction. Set out below are the situations that arise most frequently, with the route that leads to the objective in each case.
A tenant fails to pay or must be evicted
A tenant lets arrears build up, uses the premises contrary to their designated purpose, or refuses to leave at the end of the lease. The landlord can then seek dissolution of the lease and eviction, but Dutch tenancy law protects the tenant extensively and works with mandatory rules and strict time limits. With arrears of around three months dissolution is usually justified, although the court may still grant the tenant a final period to perform after all. Precisely because many provisions may not be applied to the tenant's disadvantage, the win or loss often lies in the details: a clause that looks valid at first sight by no means always holds.
A purchased home or property turns out to have defects
After the transfer, a home or commercial property turns out to have a defect the buyer did not know about: subsidence, damp, asbestos or a hidden structural fault. Whether the defect makes the seller liable depends on non-conformity: does the property answer to what the buyer could reasonably expect under the agreement? Two duties stand opposite each other here: the seller must disclose what it knows, while the buyer must itself investigate what it could know. In practice that duty to investigate weighs more heavily than buyers expect: a party that leaves warning signs unexplored after a structural survey may be unable to recover for a genuine defect after all. An age clause or an exclusion in the purchase contract can shift the balance further still.
More about the purchase of real estate
The construction is delayed or the work shows defects
A contractor delivers late, or after completion defects appear that it refuses to remedy. The client can then demand performance, repair or substitute damages, but completion is the pivotal moment: at that point the risk passes and the maintenance period usually begins, while hidden defects can still be invoked afterwards. Whether a claim succeeds depends heavily on the contract: under the widely used UAV conditions, arbitration before the Council of Arbitration for the Building Industry is often agreed, whereas otherwise the dispute belongs before the ordinary court. The sting lies in the evidential position around completion: a party that records defects in writing at completion and addresses the contractor in good time stands considerably stronger than one who has to reconstruct it afterwards.
More about contracting of work
There is a dispute over additional work
At the end of a building project the contractor charges additional work that the client never approved. For extra work the contractor may only claim a higher price if it warned the client in good time of the necessity and the cost, unless that necessity had to be clear to the client even without a warning. The dispute therefore turns on two questions: what exactly was instructed, and was there a timely warning of the extra cost? Because the answer almost always has to come from the documents, it is the order confirmations, variations and warnings that determine the outcome, not what is asserted orally after the fact.
More about contracting of work
A neighbour dispute or dispute over an easement
A neighbour builds across the boundary, plants too close to the dividing line, causes nuisance or disputes a right of way. Such conflicts first call for clarity: where exactly does the boundary lie, and what right actually exists? The law of neighbours governs the relations around the boundary, nuisance and overhanging planting, while an easement derives its content from the deed in which it was created. The outcome is rarely determined by who is right in principle, but by the factual foundation: a cadastral boundary reconstruction or the deed of creation often proves decisive. Because a neighbour conflict can fester for years, an amicable arrangement is usually worth more than a procedure won.
A dispute within the owners' association
Within an owners' association tensions arise over a decision of the general meeting, over the maintenance of the communal areas, or over the use of a private section. A party that disagrees with a decision must act quickly: the law sets a short forfeiture period of one month after becoming aware of it to have the decision annulled. Where the meeting refuses a consent an owner needs, for instance for a renovation, the court can grant a substitute authorisation. The framework for assessment is fixed in the deed of division and the division regulations, and it is precisely the short time limits that mean a party who waits too long forfeits its right.
More about owners' association law
Advice on real estate transactions
In the purchase and sale of real estate, everything turns on the contractual arrangements: the purchase agreement, the due diligence and the delivery conditions. It pays to view these from the outset through the eyes of the litigator: which provisions will hold when things go wrong? Timing is decisive here, because just before a transfer there is barely any room left to secure rights or take measures. A party that covers the risks contractually in advance has far less to litigate afterwards.