8 | the xpat journal | 2012 A Great Place to Live So you have come to the Netherlands and have found a great place to live but… you find yourself faced with a few issues: there is a leak in the kitchen, the heat- ing does not function properly, you are under the impression that you are hosting a population of uninvited small furry guests, or perhaps a team of hungry pests is happily feasting on the rustic beams in your attic. Who is to blame for this, or more importantly: who is legally responsible? By Christian Malipaard T he answer to this question first of all de- pends on whether you are renting your home or own it. If you own it then the age of the property is of great importance; all the way from very old to brand new! Ownership In the case of ownership of a pre-existing home (mean- ing you are not its first inhabitant) the crucial moment for liability, as far as defects go, is the actual transfer of ownership. e basic rule is: once you own it, the property becomes your problem. ankfully, however, there are four ex- ceptions to this rule: 1 The seller’s ‘obligation of disclosure’ Under the Dutch Civil Code, the seller of a real es- tate property is obligated to provide a prospective buyer with detailed information on its current state and on the residential environment (you don’t want to wake up one morning to find someone putting up a new high- rise right outside your bedroom window…). Any failure to inform you on these issues makes him liable. 2 The buyer’s ‘obligation of examination’ e vendor cannot be held responsible for de- fects that are obvious to the naked eye or would have been clear had you taken the trouble to carry out a more thorough investigation. How thorough you can be expected to be depends very much on the age of the property. is is why it is always advisable to have a structural inspection carried out, and a report made up, by an independent professional. If you like, you can find checklists on the Internet. Should you fail to fulfil your obligation to have this examination carried out, it will be extremely difficult to hold the seller liable later on. 3 Hidden defects that impede a ‘normal’ use of the property It is always possible that a really serious, previous- ly undetected, defect turns up that hinders the ‘normal’ use of your new home. For instance, half a year after buying the house, you drain the bathtub and the water ends up in the living room downstairs. Or the wooden floor develops a dispirited sag underneath your exqui- site but very heavy dining room table. In these cases, beware, however: the older a property is, the more likely it is to have certain defects that cannot be blamed on anyone or anything but old age! 4 A newly built property means years of warranty Different rules apply here: the building contrac- tor is liable for any defects and/or deficiencies until the moment he delivers the property into your hands. He must take you on an inspection of the property and you must sign a piece of paper that you accept the property as is. Before you do this, it is therefore crucial that you have an independent professional inspect the prem- ises and make a report. It is not unusual to find, say, 21 defects! Don’t allow yourself be coerced into signing a so-called pre-delivery report: new issues that must be dealt with might still pop up. After the final delivery, the building contractor has a grace period of three months to fix everything you noted and brought to his attention. is period actually stretches out to six months (the so- called ‘maintenance’-period) for any other problems