Legal advice when buying a home: guarantees and risks


Questioner

We intend to buy a 1930s house that was completely renovated this summer (the house is offered on Funda as a 'nearly completely renovated 1930s mansion'). We have decided not to have a building inspection carried out because the renovation was carried out by a professional company. We are aware of the fact that there can always be hidden defects and therefore want to thoroughly inspect the house ourselves before signing the purchase agreement. Because all kitchen appliances are new, we want to include a paragraph in the purchase agreement that should cover the warranty for this (normally there is still a 1-year factory warranty on this). We also want to arrange the warranty for the renovation in this. We were wondering whether this is common and if so, whether there is a standard text available for this? An additional reason for including this paragraph is the Non-self-occupancy clause included by the seller. We hope that by including the warranty paragraph we can still place some responsibility with the seller. Is this assumption correct? Or can the seller still rely on the actual occupancy clause?

Lawyer

All standard models for purchase contracts contain a provision that means that the seller transfers all guarantees and rights with respect to third parties to the buyer and is obliged to issue the guarantee certificates. From the fact that the buyer has a non-self-occupation clause included, I gather that the trader has had the property renovated with a view to selling it. In such cases, construction contracts with guarantee clauses are not always used. There should be guarantee certificates for the equipment, but whether 'the work' is guaranteed is very questionable. In such a case, it is highly recommended to have a building inspection carried out and also to have a lawyer ('party advisor') critically review the purchase agreement before signing it. You will most likely be presented with a 'seller-friendly' agreement that contains hardly any guarantees. Whether the other party can successfully invoke the non-self-occupation clause depends on the other provisions included in the purchase contract. For example, if it states that the seller guarantees that 'the work' has been carried out properly and properly by qualified companies, then you can appeal to that in case of problems. If that is not included, then there is a good chance that the seller can successfully appeal to the non-occupancy clause.

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