Selling a house in the Netherlands before you move abroad
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Oct 17, 2026

Selling a house in the Netherlands before you move abroad

Moving abroad does not end your liability as a seller. What to disclose, what clauses do, how long buyers can claim and how to prepare.

Moving abroad does not end your liability as a seller. If a buyer discovers a defect that prevents normal use of the home, they must report it within a reasonable time, and their claim becomes time-barred two years after that report, unless they interrupt that period. What protects you is full disclosure, the right clauses in the purchase agreement and a file you take with you.

This guide explains the rules from the seller's side: what you must disclose and what the buyer must investigate, what the standard clauses do and do not cover, how long a buyer can claim, and what to arrange before you leave, including signing the transfer from abroad. It is general information, not legal advice for a specific claim.

What you must disclose, and what the buyer must investigate

Dutch law says a buyer may expect the home to have the characteristics needed for normal use (article 7:17 of the Civil Code). The buyer cannot claim for defects they knew about, or could reasonably have known about, when the purchase agreement was signed. Two duties meet here: yours to disclose and the buyer's to investigate.

Your duty to disclose does not disappear because a buyer failed to investigate. That is what the Supreme Court ruled in the Offringa/Vinck case of 1998, about a house on Curaçao whose sellers had not told the buyer what they knew about subsidence cracks. So disclose everything you know, including defects you consider minor: that is what protects you later.

The buyer's duty still counts. In a 2016 case about an old farmhouse with many visible defects, the Supreme Court accepted the finding that the buyers had to investigate and that the sellers had no further duty to disclose. The older the home and the more visible its condition, the more a buyer is expected to look, or to have a building inspection done.

The seller questionnaire and the list of movables

Before the sale, you complete a questionnaire about the condition of the home (vragenlijst) and a list of movables (lijst van zaken). The notes to the standard model purchase agreement say that the questionnaire is not meant as a guarantee, but carries great weight when the agreement is interpreted. The list of movables forms part of the contract.

Answer every question yourself and in full. Mention recurring issues even if you dealt with them, such as a leak after heavy rain or cracks that were repaired, and attach invoices or reports where you have them. If you do not know an answer, say so rather than guess. Keep a signed copy: it is one of the first documents a lawyer will ask for.

What the clauses do, and what they do not do

A purchase agreement for an older home can include an age clause (ouderdomsclausule), in which the buyer accepts that an older home does not meet the standards of a new one. According to the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries (KNB), the clause covers only defects the seller did not know about at the time of the sale. It does not protect a seller who stayed silent.

The asbestos clause works the same way: if you know that asbestos was used in the home, you must report it. A non-self-occupancy clause (niet-zelfbewoningsclausule) applies when the seller has not lived in the home, for example because it was let out after an earlier move abroad, and it limits what the seller can be expected to know about defects.

An 'as is' clause means the buyer takes the home in its current state, but your duty to disclose remains. Courts look at what the seller knew. In 2023, the District Court of Northern Netherlands ruled that a seller who knew about the defects could not rely on the age clause, and ordered her to pay the buyer €34,166.87.

One more rule matters for sellers. Under the standard model purchase agreement (2023 version), if a defect prevents normal use and the buyer could not have known about it, the seller pays only the repair costs, with a deduction for new for old. Other damage is only for the seller's account if the seller can be blamed for the defect.

How long a buyer can claim after the sale

There is no fixed deadline counted from the sale. The buyer must notify you within a reasonable time after discovering the defect, or after the moment they should reasonably have discovered it (article 7:23). The Supreme Court has ruled that no fixed term applies, not even as a starting point; the Legal Services Counter calls two months usually reasonable.

If you knew or should have known about the defect and did not disclose it, the period only starts when the buyer actually discovers it. Once notified, the claim becomes time-barred two years after that notice. Under the general rules on limitation, the buyer can interrupt that period, after which a new one starts, and it does not run while your intent prevents the buyer from acting. Moving abroad changes none of this.

The fixed two-month rule you may read about online applies to consumer purchases of movable goods, not to a home sold by one private person to another. In a private sale, there is also no legal presumption that a defect already existed at the transfer, so the buyer has to show that it did, which becomes harder as time passes.

Before you leave: a checklist

The documents you take with you decide how quickly and how well a claim can be answered, possibly years later and from another country. Before you hand over the keys, put the following in one folder, digital and on paper, and keep it until well after the two-year period that follows any notice or later written claim from the buyer:

  • The purchase agreement, the questionnaire, the list of movables, and the listing text, photos and brochure.
  • Inspection and measurement reports, and invoices for repairs and renovations.
  • Correspondence with the buyer, your agent and, for an apartment, the VvE.
  • A postal address and an email address where the notary and your agent can reach you.
  • The terms of your legal-expenses insurance, checked before you cancel it.
  • A power of attorney for the transfer, if you will already be abroad.

Check your legal-expenses insurance before you cancel it. The general conditions of one large Dutch insurer, for example, require that you were insured when the conflict arose and that you ask for help while the policy runs, and give no help with new conflicts once you no longer live in the Netherlands, after which the policy ends. Ask your insurer in writing how a claim about a sale made while you lived here would be handled.

Selling your own home does not trigger extra tax at the moment of the sale, according to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration; what remains after repaying the mortgage counts as assets. Emigrating in the same year can affect your tax position in other ways, so ask a tax adviser before you fix the transfer date.

Signing the transfer from abroad

You do not have to fly back for the notary. You can give a power of attorney so that an employee of the notary's office signs the transfer deed on your behalf, as the Royal Dutch Association of Civil-law Notaries explains. Arrange this with the notary well before the transfer date, because your signature on the power of attorney usually has to be legalised.

Dutch embassies and consulates can legalise a signature in some situations, a property sale among them, at €26.25 per document in person in 2026; a local notary is the alternative. If a Dutch notary already knows your identity and signature, legalisation may not be needed. Ask the notary which route they accept before you leave.

If a claim arrives after you have moved

Take a formal letter seriously, and get advice before you admit liability or offer money. Ask for the buyer's expert report and the date on which the defect was discovered, and compare the claim with your questionnaire, the listing photos and the inspection report. A short, factual reply keeps your position open.

Have a lawyer look at the claim before the exchange goes further, especially if the letter comes from a legal-expenses insurer or a law firm. If we sold your home, we keep the sales file after the transfer and you can ask us for a copy, but whether you are liable is a question for your lawyer. The rules above explain why disclosure and timing often decide the outcome.

How we help sellers who are leaving The Hague

When we sell your home, we start with a valuation on site, have the home measured according to the Dutch standard NEN 2580 and set up a digital sales file. You upload your documents there, and we complete the questionnaire and the list of movables together with you. We check the title deed, the deed of division and, for an apartment, the VvE documents.

If you have already left, we hold the keys and conduct every viewing ourselves, including in the evenings and at weekends, and we keep you informed by phone, email or video call. You can follow the statistics of your listing on Funda. We draft the purchase agreement and coordinate the transfer with the notary, so that you can sign through a power of attorney.

If the home is let when it goes on the market, we also handle the end of the tenancy: the final inspection, the settlement of the deposit and the condition in which the home is handed over. Read more about how we sell a home, or, if you are buying your next home in The Hague, see what working with us on a purchase involves.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a seller liable for hidden defects in the Netherlands?

There is no fixed period counted from the sale. The buyer must report a defect within a reasonable time after they discovered it or should have discovered it, and the claim becomes time-barred two years after that report, unless the buyer interrupts that period. If the seller knew or should have known about the defect and kept quiet, only actual discovery counts.

Does an 'as is' clause protect me as a seller?

At most for defects you did not know about. An 'as is' clause confirms that the buyer accepts the home in its current state, but it does not remove your duty to disclose. If you knew about a defect and did not report it, you may not be able to rely on such a clause, as a 2023 ruling on an age clause by the District Court of Northern Netherlands shows.

What is an ouderdomsclausule?

The ouderdomsclausule, or age clause, is a clause that can be added for an older home, in which the buyer accepts that the home does not meet the standards of a new one. It covers only defects the seller did not know about at the time of the sale, so it does not replace full and honest answers in the seller questionnaire.

Do I have to be in the Netherlands to sign the transfer deed?

No. You can give a power of attorney so that an employee of the notary's office signs the deed on your behalf. Your signature on the power of attorney usually has to be legalised, for example at a Dutch embassy or consulate, or by a local notary. Arrange this with the notary well before the transfer date.

Does my legal-expenses insurance still cover me after I move abroad?

That depends on your policy. The conditions of one large Dutch insurer, for example, require that you were insured when the conflict arose and that you ask for help while the policy runs, and end help with new conflicts once you no longer live in the Netherlands. Ask your insurer in writing how a claim about a sale made while you lived here would be handled.

Sources

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