Phase 1Cooling-off period in the Netherlands: how the 3 days work
Receiving the signed purchase agreement is what starts your cooling-off period.
Phase 1 · 4 min read
Offer accepted, what now? Sort this first
Once you sign, the notaris, the cooling-off period, the survey, the financing and the deposit follow one another, usually in the same order. This is what you do at each point.
Buying & biddingLegal & notary
After your offer is accepted, you first check that the arrangements are in the purchase agreement. The sale is only fixed once both parties have signed. When you sign, note these three dates:
- the end date of your financing condition
- the end date for the building survey, if you agreed one
- the day by which the deposit or bank guarantee has to be arranged with the notaris
Until it is signed, a private seller can still accept another offer, and you can still back out too. You only become the owner later, at the transfer at the notaris.
How the first weeks run
The order is the same in almost every purchase. The dates differ per purchase agreement, and the date in your agreement always takes precedence.
Before signing: put the draft next to your offer
Check that the purchase price, the transfer date, the conditions precedent with their end dates, and the amount and date of the deposit or bank guarantee match what you agreed. Whatever is in it once signed is what counts. If you do not understand a clause, ask for an explanation or a change before you sign.
Right after signing: contact the notaris
The signed agreement goes to the notaris office named in it. Get in touch straight away, so the office can prepare its searches and keep your transfer date free. How to choose an office and compare quotes is in the notaris when buying a house.
The same week: start your mortgage application
Let your mortgage adviser know you have signed. The lender only makes a binding offer once it has all your documents, including your income details, an employer’s statement and a valuation report, and that offer has to be in place before your financing condition ends. Which documents to have ready is in mortgage application documents.
After receipt: your cooling-off period
As a private buyer you have a statutory cooling-off period of three days. It starts on the day after you receive the purchase agreement signed by both parties. If a weekend or public holiday falls in it, the end date can move. Use those days to test your decision. How to work out the end date is in the cooling-off period.
Before the survey date: the report in hand
If you agreed a condition for the building survey, book the surveyor as soon as you have signed and agree when you will get the report. It has to be before the date in your agreement. You can withdraw on that condition if the report shows repairs costing more than the amount in your agreement, or if the surveyor advises further investigation; you then send a copy of the report, within the period the agreement states. What the surveyor looks at is in the building survey.
Before your financing condition ends: offer or withdraw
If you have a binding offer by then, the purchase goes ahead. If the financing does not work out, you withdraw in writing, with the documents your agreement asks for and within the period it states. Miss that period and the purchase stands. So check now which documents and which period those are. How withdrawing works is in conditions precedent.
Shortly after: the deposit or bank guarantee
A bank guarantee is usually issued within a few days after the financing condition expires. The final date is in your purchase agreement. Whether you transfer a deposit or have a guarantee issued, and what that costs, is in deposit or bank guarantee.
The deposit in two figures
- Common practiceusually10%
- Deposit or bank guaranteeCustomary: 10% of the purchase price. The amount you agreed is in your own purchase agreement.
- Example agreementfor example40,000euro
- On a purchase price of €400,000You transfer that amount to the notaris, or a bank stands guarantee for it with a bank guarantee, by the date in your purchase agreement.
The model leaves the amount and the date blank. What applies to you is in your own purchase agreement. Checked on 17 October 2026.
Bronnen en toelichting
- Deposit or bank guarantee
- model purchase agreement 2026, notes to article 5
- On a purchase price of €400,000
- 10% of the purchase price
Only after that come the weeks around the transfer: the notaris sends the draft deed, you plan the final inspection and sort out the move and the meter readings.
Frequently asked questions
Does the seller have a cooling-off period too?
Not by law. The law only gives the buyer a cooling-off period. You and the seller can agree that the seller gets one too, and then it is in the purchase agreement.
How do I withdraw within the cooling-off period?
Your message has to reach the seller or their agent before the cooling-off period ends. The law does not prescribe a form. A method that lets you prove that and when you gave notice, such as a registered letter, avoids argument afterwards.
What if I did not agree a financing condition?
Then you cannot dissolve the purchase if your mortgage does not come through. The risk that the financing fails then lies with you.
Sources8 sources, 7 of them official
Checked on October 28, 2026. Livio provides information, not personal advice. Ask your adviser, notary or estate agent what applies to you.
Official
- 1Rijksoverheid, Buying a home: an overview of what to know and arrange (October 3, 2026)
- 2Rijksoverheid, How much cooling-off time do I have after buying a home? (October 3, 2026)
- 3Notaris.nl (KNB), Koopcontract en overdracht, met de pagina’s over het koopcontract opstellen, de kosten koper en een nieuwbouwwoning kopen (October 3, 2026)
- 4Wetten.overheid.nl, Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, artikel 2 (versie geldend vanaf 1 juli 2026) (October 2, 2026)
- 5Wetten.overheid.nl, Algemene termijnenwet, artikel 1 en 2 (October 2, 2026)
- 6Hoge Raad, ECLI:NL:HR:2011:BU7412, 9 december 2011, rechtsoverweging 3.8, over het schriftelijkheidsvereiste bij een particuliere verkoper (October 3, 2026)
- 7Notaris.nl (KNB), Buying a home (brochure, October 2025 version) (October 28, 2026)
Trade press
Keep reading
Phase 1
Phase 1The notaris when buying a house: choosing one and the cost
Request quotes in good time and compare the work included, the contact and the availability.
Phase 1The Dutch purchase agreement: what to check before you sign
Put the contract next to your offer and check the amounts, the conditions, the fittings and the dates.