Cooling-off period in the Netherlands: how the 3 days work

As a private buyer you have three days of statutory cooling-off time (bedenktijd). It starts at 00.00 on the day after you received the purchase agreement signed by both parties. Within the period you can withdraw from the purchase without giving a reason and without paying the seller anything.

Weekends and recognised public holidays can push the end date back. So keep the message or the receipt that came with the signed contract. That keeps the date of receipt to hand when you work out the end date.

Two rules decide when it ends

At least two of the three days must not be a Saturday, Sunday or recognised public holiday. If there are fewer, the period is extended.

On top of that, the period may not end on a Saturday, Sunday or recognised public holiday. If the end falls on one, it moves to the next ordinary day.

If you receive it on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday contain two ordinary days. But the end falls on Saturday and therefore moves to Monday.

If you receive it on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday contain only one ordinary day. Then too the period runs on until Monday.

The law uses its own list of recognised public holidays. Your own working pattern therefore does not decide which days count. Check the end date separately whenever a public holiday falls inside the period.

Make sure your statement arrives in time

If you want out of the purchase, tell the seller in writing that you are using your cooling-off right. Your statement has to reach them within the period, so keep proof both of sending and of receipt.

If you are unsure about a public holiday inside the period, or about how to send the message, ask your agent, your notaris or a legal adviser to confirm it. Do that well before the end date.

Cooling-off time is not the same as a condition

The statutory cooling-off period applies to the private buyer. The seller does not have one. You can agree a longer period for the buyer, but not a shorter one.

Ontbindende voorwaarden are agreed with the seller. A financing condition, or a condition for a structural survey, has its own deadline and its own requirements. A rejected mortgage does not end the purchase by itself: you have to invoke the agreed condition in time.

Check the contract before you sign

The word voorlopig does not make the purchase agreement non-binding. So check the purchase price, the arrangements, the clauses and the dates first. Use the cooling-off period to review your decision once more, not as a substitute for that check.