Right of retention: What to do in case of legal questions?

Questioner

Right of retention In short, the right of retention is the authority granted to a creditor to suspend the fulfillment of an obligation to deliver an item to his debtor until his claim is paid. In my situation, I have a piece of land on which a number of houses can be built. I sell the land directly to the purchasers and the contractor concludes a construction contract directly with the purchasers. Please note, I am not a client. Now a case arises where the contractor has installed several foundations for which no construction contract has been concluded with purchasers. Contractor declares the right of retention against me and puts fences around the foundations. Because my bank wants to auction the land due to payment arrears. In my view, the contractor has no interest in asserting the right of retention against me on the grounds that he has no enforceable claim and no obligation to deliver an item. How should you respond to this?

Lawyer

You indicate that you are not a client. But there must be a client because I assume that the contractor does not decide for himself where and how he is going to lay the foundation. If you are still the owner of the land, it is unclear why you did not intervene when the contractor was going to lay the foundation on your land. Apparently you did not protest against the making of the foundation earlier either. Incidentally, as the owner of the land, you have in any case become the owner of the foundation by accession and I can imagine that the right of retention was invoked for that reason alone. You can always start summary proceedings to demand the removal of the fences.

Questioner

Does 'accession' automatically create a claim over what has been built on land of which I am the owner?

Lawyer

The most important question is who gave the order. There must be someone who gave the contractor the order. He certainly doesn't just start laying a foundation somewhere. If you are not the client, who is it? You say that you sell the land directly to the purchasers but also that you are the owner of the land. So it has apparently not been sold yet, or at least not delivered.

Questioner

Does 'accession' automatically create a claim over what has been built on land of which I am the owner? No, there is no client, the contractor constructed the foundation on my land on his own behalf. The contractor's position was that the land with a building plan would then be easier to sell. My question in this regard is, in the event of accession, does the contractor have a claim against the landowner?

Lawyer

If you did not give the order and the contractor has laid the foundation entirely on his own initiative, apparently without your permission or consent, then you must send a registered letter to the contractor stating that he must remove the foundation immediately. It is simply ridiculous that a contractor would just lay foundations on someone's land without asking permission or having received an order.

Lawyer

This question has a high theoretical content. This forum is not intended to receive answers for study assignments or exam assignments.

Questioner

Mr. Rob Martens is proclaimed by me as `the lawyer of 2014`!