Selling a house with legal questions? Get free advice!

Questioner

Our house has been sold but has not yet been passed by the notary. Now we have received the invoice from the real estate agent and they charge 21% VAT on top of the brokerage percentage. Now the sales order does indeed state 1.5% excluding VAT. This order was only signed by my mother and not by myself. I am also the owner of the house. We are married on the basis of a prenuptial agreement. I was recently made aware that companies may never offer consumers excluding VAT. This is because it is not immediately clear what the final price is, plus the percentage that will be used (6 or 21). The NVM helpline indicated that the broker must have explicitly explained why he is offering excluding VAT. As far as I know, this was not done except for the words 'excl. VAT. They advised filing an objection as soon as the invoice was received. We have just done so and now the broker is braying with the fact that he will have the legal department investigate it and will charge us those costs. Note: the purchase contract is now a fact but has not yet been passed. We would like to sell our house but do not agree with the VAT on top of the brokerage fee. 1. Is the contract with the real estate agent legally valid now that there is only 1 signature on it? 2. Is the broker even allowed to offer the consumer excluding VAT? 3. Can the broker simply pass on the possible costs of the 'legal department' to us? 4. Do we have to have the invoice including VAT paid by the notary? Thank you in advance!

Lawyer

As a rule, an entrepreneur is not allowed to give consumers prices excluding VAT. However, if this does happen, it is not automatically the case that VAT does not have to be paid by definition. The NVM conditions (article 7 paragraph 1) stipulate that prices are inclusive of VAT, unless expressly agreed otherwise. The question is whether stating 'excluding VAT' meets the criterion 'expressly agreed otherwise'. Because this is not a foregone conclusion as far as I am concerned, I advise you to try to make an arrangement. It is conceivable that you share the difference in price. The NVM conditions are only relevant if there is an NVM broker. A non-NVM broker is not bound by the NVM conditions.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. It concerns an NVM broker indeed. My husband signing the sales order where the brokerage percentage excluding VAT is stated, does that still have any influence on this discussion? This was only signed by him and not by me. Thank you!

Lawyer

The fact that the order was signed by your husband and not by you is not relevant in this case. What is important is whether the price quote stated 'excluding VAT', or whether there was only an amount (without stating whether inclusive or exclusive of VAT), and that you only found out upon invoicing that the price in the agreement was excl. VAT. That does make a difference. Can you say something more about this?

Questioner

The order does indeed state 1.5% excluding VAT. No further explanation of, for example, the percentage that would be used. Can we get out of it or is the broker right now with the invoice and we are out of luck because it was overlooked?

Lawyer

I advise you to negotiate the matter. Although prices may not be offered excluding VAT, and the NVM conditions stipulate that prices are excluding VAT 'unless expressly agreed otherwise', the price quoted is 'excluding VAT' and there is therefore a chance that if the matter ends up in court, you will still have to pay the VAT. I advise you to split the difference, and thus negotiate the matter so that you end up paying 10.5% on top of the invoice amount.

Questioner

Ok, thanks for your advice