The 5% retention: what to do before the deadline passes

With a new-build home, 5% of your build price stays with the Dutch civil-law notary (notaris). The build price is the amount you agreed for the construction. If defects are still outstanding after handover, tell the notaris in writing that you want to hold money back for them. Do that before the three-month period after handover runs out. On a build price of €300,000 that comes to €15,000.

What you write down on handover day

You walk through the house with the builder and note every point on the handover record (proces-verbaal van oplevering): the list you sign together that day with everything that is not yet in order. Put the small things on it and the things you assume will sort themselves out. Use that list to keep track of what is still outstanding. The more fully you describe each point, the easier it is to find later what had to be put right. What else to look for that day is set out in the new-build checklist.

If your building contract is from 1 January 2024 or later, you do not lose your rights by forgetting a point. The builder then stays liable for defects that were not discovered at handover, unless they cannot be attributed to the builder.

You let them know within three months

You have a suspension right: the right to hold back part of the money until the work is finished. You use it by telling the notaris in writing, before the end of those three months, that you are suspending. In that letter or email, set out which points from the handover record are still open and which amount you are holding back for them. If every point has been dealt with, you tell them instead that the notaris may pay out the retention.

That amount has to be in proportion to how large those defects are. You hold the money back to get the work finished. The retention is not a penalty for the builder. If the only thing left on your whole list is a door that sticks, you do not hold back the full €15,000 but an amount that fits repairing that door. If three bathroom tiles are loose and the dormer leaks, that is a different matter.

The builder has an obligation of their own alongside it. If your building contract is from 1 January 2024 or later, they have to ask you in writing between one and two months after handover whether you want to use your suspension right, and send a copy of that request to the notaris. If you do not respond before the end of the three months, the notaris may pay the retention to the builder after that. Without that copy the notaris may not. If your contract is older, check what it says about this.

Put the end date in your calendar straight after handover, with a reminder two weeks ahead. Do not wait for the builder to ask. Before that date, check which points are still open, contact the builder where you need to, and send your notice to the notaris.

With an existing home this retention does not exist

You can agree with the seller that part of the purchase price stays with the notaris until agreed repairs have been carried out. That is not a statutory right but an agreement, so it has to be in the purchase contract before you sign. After that the seller is no longer obliged to agree to it.