Legal Assistance for Bicycle Theft

Questioner

end of july bought bike in second hand shop. 3 weeks later it was stolen, there are pictures of that. 'self' research results given to police when reporting the theft. reporting is not possible because it would be an already stolen bike. In the meantime case solved but how do we get the bike back? or the money we paid for it? According to legal expenses insurance MIJ. it cannot be recovered from the rightful owner, who had bought and insured the bicycle, so according to the police it was the owner. also the second hand shop cannot be held liable, because they did not know that the bike was stolen. a check was done on 'Stop Heling. nl' and it showed that the bike was not stolen. BUT it was! What to do now?

Lawyer

Well, I think that didn't go quite right because who you were, was the rightful owner of the bike, not the previous owner. The buyer who buys a bike in a designated hall/shop is protected by law. As I see it, the bicycle has now been delivered to the wrong person, see article 3:86 section 3a http://www.wetboek-online.nl/wet/Burgerlijk%20Wetboek%20Boek%203.html But I don't know whether it makes sense to reclaim this bicycle; perhaps you could join the criminal proceedings or file a complaint with the police?