Dissolution of purchase agreement not enforceable in court, now what?

In a recent ruling, the North Holland District Court (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2025:6641) ruled in favor of the buyers of a leaking apartment. They terminated the contract of sale of the home because of non-conformity rightly dissolved, the court said. In addition, the seller must compensate the buyers' damages. Despite the positive verdict, there was a hitch. This is because a declaratory judgment that the purchase agreement has been dissolved is not enforceable. This means that, in principle, buyers must await the appeal before the delivery can be finally reversed. Real estate lawyer Robert van Ewijk discusses that aspect of the case.

Leak leads to rescission of sale: procedural aspects

In an earlier blog about this ruling, I discussed Why the leakage had led to the dissolution. In this blog, I address the impact of the judgment on the buyer. On their behalf, it was argued in the proceedings that it was in their interest to have the judgment executed quickly. This is because they are elderly (76 and 86 years old) and do not want to continue living in the apartment. Therefore, the buyers wanted the judgment to be declared provisionally enforceable. That means that the judgment must be acted upon immediately, even if there are appeal is filed. The court agrees as to the claimed compensation, but not for the requested declaratory judgment that the purchase agreement had been rightly rescinded. The court considered:

“4.38. It is premised that the claim claimed by [plaintiffs] under I cannot be declared provisionally enforceable, because a declaratory judgment does not lend itself to it. This is different for the damages claimed.”

Can the buyers do anything now with the rescission of the sale?

The court agreed with the buyers that the contract was rescinded and declared it to be so, as it is called:

This could possibly have been overcome by not only seeking a declaratory judgment, but by additionally bringing an action for an order against the seller to perform an actual act. Namely an order to cooperate in reversing the delivery. Such a claim can in fact be declared provisionally enforceable. It can be debated whether the claimed declaratory judgment was then necessary. Indeed, the court may assume in the body of the judgment that the sale has been rescinded and then issue an order to reverse delivery based on that premise. The valid rescission of the sale is then a consideration in the judgment and the basis for the condemnation, but it no longer constitutes the condemnation itself.

Judge not required to declare sentence provisionally enforceable

Thus, a declaratory judgment usually cannot be declared provisionally enforceable. An order to do something can. Incidentally, it is not a given that the court would have done so if the order to return had been instituted. Indeed, the fact that it can be done does not mean that it will be done, especially since the seller in this case had argued that the consequences of such a judgment are irreversible.

Real estate law attorney to rescind purchase agreement

Nor is it the case that the buyers can now just wait and see. In fact, the purchase agreement has indeed been rescinded. In a summary proceedings may therefore still be claimed that the seller be ordered to cooperate in redelivery.

You can read the other blogs about this lawsuit here (on the dissolution itself) and here (about the damage).