Salesperson at your door: your right to cancel within 14 days

If you sign a contract with a salesperson at your door in the Netherlands, you can cancel it within fourteen days. You do not have to give a reason and you pay no penalty. The main exception works in your favour: if the trader did not tell you about this right in the prescribed way, the period is extended by up to twelve months. Dutch law calls this a contract concluded away from the business premises (overeenkomst buiten de verkoopruimte). The rules are in articles 6:230g to 6:230z of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek), which implement the European Consumer Rights Directive.

This protection covers energy contracts, insulation and solar panel deals, subscriptions signed at a market stall and charity direct debits agreed at a festival. Below we explain when the rules apply and exactly when the period starts and ends. We also cover what the trader must give you in writing, what happens if work has already begun, which contracts fall outside the right of cancellation, and what you can do when a trader refuses to cooperate.

Which contracts count as door-to-door sales?

More than just the doorstep. The legal category covers four situations. First, an agreement made while you and the trader are physically together in a place that is not the trader’s shop or showroom. Second, an offer made in such a place and accepted shortly afterwards in the shop. Third, an agreement concluded during an excursion organised by the trader. Fourth, an agreement concluded after you were personally approached in a place that is not the business premises. In practice, this captures the salesperson at your door, the stand in a shopping centre gangway, the market stall, the festival stand and the sales visit at your workplace.

Why the extra protection? It is about the situation, not the product. You did not come to buy. You cannot compare prices on the spot. You may feel social pressure to be polite. And the seller, not you, sets the course of the conversation. The legislator therefore gives you time afterwards to reverse your decision. It also requires the trader to hand over the essential information in a form you can keep and read at your leisure.

The separate Door-to-Door Sales Act (Colportagewet), which gave an eight-day cooling-off period, was repealed in 2014 when the Consumer Rights Directive was implemented. Everything now sits in Book 6 of the Civil Code, and the protection is stronger. The period is longer, the information duties are more detailed, and the rules are mandatory: they cannot be set aside by contract. In addition, case law requires courts to apply consumer protection rules of their own motion. That matters in practice. If you are sued for payment, you do not lose the protection simply because you did not think to raise it yourself.

The rules apply to consumers: natural persons acting outside their trade or profession. A sole trader who signs a contract for the business does not have the statutory right of cancellation. A contract used for both private and business purposes can still count as a consumer contract if the business purpose is only marginal. Our overview of consumer protection in Dutch contracts sets out the wider framework.

How long is the cooling-off period, and when does it start?

You have fourteen days to cancel without giving reasons. Dutch law calls this cancellation ontbinding; the European term is withdrawal. Here they mean the same thing. The trader may not charge a penalty or ask for a reason, and a contract clause that says otherwise is void.

The starting point depends on what you bought. For a service, the period runs from the day after the contract was concluded. For goods, it runs from the day after you, or someone you designated, received the goods. If one order covers several items delivered separately, the period starts after the last item arrives. For regular deliveries over a period of time, it starts after the first delivery. The period ends at the close of the fourteenth day.

Sending your notice on the last day is enough; it does not have to arrive by then. Even so, we advise against waiting until the final day. You must be able to show that you sent the notice in time, and a message you cannot prove is worth little. Send it early and keep the evidence.

What must the trader give you, and in what form?

Before you sign, the trader must give you a defined set of information on paper or, if you agree, on another durable medium, in plain and intelligible language. The trader must also give you a copy of the signed contract or a confirmation of it. A verbal explanation, however clear, is not enough.

The information you must receive includes the following. The law itself is written as a list here, so a list is the clearest way to present it:

• the identity of the trader: name, trading name, geographic address, telephone number and, where applicable, the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) registration number;
• the main characteristics of the goods or services;
• the total price including taxes and all additional charges, or the way the price is calculated;
• the arrangements for payment, delivery and performance, and the date by which the trader will perform;
• the existence of the right of cancellation, its conditions, the period and the procedure for using it, together with the model cancellation form;
• who pays the cost of returning goods and, where work may start during the cooling-off period, the fact that you will owe a proportionate amount for what has been performed;
• the duration of the contract and the conditions for ending it, including any minimum term.

This information is not decoration. It forms part of the contract, and the trader cannot change it on its own afterwards. You do not owe charges you were not told about before signing. And if the trader disputes that the information was given, the trader must prove it did so, not you.

What happens if the trader does not follow the rules?

The most important sanction applies automatically. If the trader did not inform you about the right of cancellation in the prescribed way, the fourteen-day period is extended by twelve months. If the trader supplies the missing information within that year, a new fourteen-day period starts from that moment. This is not a favour the court may or may not grant; it follows directly from the law. It is also the reason why a contract signed at the door months ago can sometimes still be cancelled.

There is a second route if the sales method itself was the problem. A commercial practice is misleading if it gives false information or leaves out essential information. It is aggressive if harassment, coercion or undue influence significantly limits your freedom of choice. Pressure tactics at the door belong in that discussion: refusing to leave, insisting the price is only available today, referring to neighbours who have supposedly signed, or discouraging you from taking time to think. A contract concluded as a result of an unfair commercial practice can be annulled, and the trader must prove that the information it gave was accurate. Our article on unfair commercial practices under Dutch law explains how that test works.

Where a consumer is sued, courts apply these rules on their own initiative, and the sanction must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Depending on the case, that can mean the claim is rejected, the amount you must pay is reduced, or the cancellation is upheld long after the original fourteen days. The outcome depends on which duties were breached and how serious the breach was. Be wary of anyone who promises a fixed percentage discount in advance.

How do you cancel, and what happens next?

You do not need a special form. A clear statement that you are cancelling the contract is enough. You can send it by e-mail, by letter, through the trader’s online form or on the model cancellation form the trader should have given you. State which contract it is, the date it was concluded and what it was for. Add your contact details and the bank account for the refund. Keep a copy of the message and proof that you sent it. Registered post is not required, but for a large contract it removes one point of argument.

After you cancel, the trader must refund all payments received, including any delivery costs, within fourteen days of receiving your notice. The refund uses the same payment method you used, unless you agreed otherwise. For goods, the trader may hold back the refund until the goods are back or until you have shown that you sent them. You must return the goods within fourteen days. You pay the direct cost of returning them, unless the trader agreed to pay or did not tell you that these costs were yours.

You may inspect and test the goods as you would in a shop. If you handle them beyond what is needed to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning, you can be liable for the loss in value. That liability only exists if the trader informed you about the right of cancellation in the first place. In other words, a trader who kept quiet about the cooling-off period cannot then charge you for depreciation.

Cancellation also ends the arrangements linked to the contract. Ancillary agreements concluded in connection with it end automatically when the main contract is cancelled, at no cost to you. Examples are a finance agreement taken out to pay for an installation, or a service subscription sold with the product. If a lender keeps collecting instalments, write to both the lender and the trader and refer to your cancellation.

Two points about evidence are worth remembering. You must be able to show that you sent the cancellation notice within the period. So save the message and its timestamp; do not delete it once the refund arrives. Everything else is for the trader to prove: that it provided the mandatory information, that it obtained your express consent to start work early, and that a statutory exception applies. This division of the burden of proof is the practical core of the protection. Where the trader’s paperwork is incomplete, that often works in your favour.

Can you still cancel when the work has already started?

Yes, but what you owe depends on what the trader did beforehand. Say you expressly asked for the work to begin during the cooling-off period, and the trader informed you about the right of cancellation and about the fact that you would owe a proportionate amount. In that case, you pay a proportionate part of the agreed price for the work actually performed when you cancel.

If one of those conditions is missing, the position changes completely: you owe nothing for the work already done. This is a deliberate sanction, not a windfall. It is why the order of events matters so much in insulation, solar panel and energy contracts, where installation or supply often starts immediately. The same logic applies to digital content delivered during the period. You only lose the right of cancellation if you expressly agreed to immediate delivery, acknowledged that you would lose the right, and the trader confirmed that consent in writing.

When is there no right of cancellation?

Only in a limited number of cases set out in the law. These exceptions are interpreted strictly, and a trader who relies on one must prove that it applies. The main categories are goods made to your specifications or clearly personalised, such as a kitchen designed and built for your home; perishable goods; sealed goods that are unsuitable for return for health or hygiene reasons once unsealed; goods that are inseparably mixed with other items after delivery; and services that have been fully performed, where performance began with your express prior consent and your acknowledgement that you would lose the right once the service was completed.

Urgent repairs and maintenance you requested yourself are treated separately. If you specifically asked the trader to come and carry out an urgent repair, you cannot cancel that repair. You can still cancel any extra services or goods supplied during the same visit that you did not ask for. An illustrative example: a boiler engineer you called out on a winter night may charge for the emergency repair, but a maintenance subscription sold during the same visit remains cancellable.

Financial services concluded at a distance and certain other categories have their own regimes, with similar but not identical rules. Contracts about immovable property fall outside this framework entirely. If you are unsure which regime applies, the safest course is to send the cancellation notice within fourteen days anyway and discuss the category afterwards.

What extra rules apply to energy, insulation and solar panels?

Energy contracts are among the products most often sold at the door, and they come with an extra layer of regulation. Since 1 January 2026, the Energy Act (Energiewet) has replaced the Electricity Act 1998 (Elektriciteitswet 1998) and the Gas Act (Gaswet). It sets requirements for supply contracts with consumers, including what the contract must state and how changes and terminations are handled. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) supervises the market. It can act against suppliers over misleading or aggressive sales practices, and against agents selling on their behalf. The fourteen-day right of cancellation applies alongside those rules, and a contract clause that tries to exclude it has no effect. Our glossary entries on the Energy Act and the consumer energy contract explain the terminology.

With insulation and solar panels, the question is when the work may begin. The installer may not start during the cooling-off period unless you have expressly asked for it. If you never made that request, or the information duties were not met, you owe nothing for the work done when you cancel. These contracts often run to five figures and are frequently financed or linked to a subsidy application. So check two things before you sign. Is the price in line with quotations from established local installers? And does any subsidy the salesperson mentions actually exist and apply to you? A promise about a grant that turns out to be unavailable can amount to misleading information.

Subscriptions, memberships and charity direct debits signed on the street follow the same fourteen-day rule. The ordinary rules on contract duration and renewal apply on top of that. If you sign up for a subscription that renews automatically, read our article on automatic renewal of subscriptions under Dutch law. The rules for ending such a subscription are more favourable than most people assume.

What can you do if the trader refuses to cooperate?

Start with a written demand. State that you cancelled on a specific date and that the refund is due within fourteen days of that notice, and set a short final deadline. Keep the tone factual and put everything in writing, because this correspondence is your evidence if the matter escalates. Do not accept a partial refund or a settlement offer before you know your legal position. And do not accept a trader’s statement that cancellation is impossible unless it points to the statutory exception it relies on.

If that does not work, you have several options. Many sectors have a disputes committee (geschillencommissie) that issues a binding decision at low cost. For medium-sized amounts, that is often the fastest route. ConsuWijzer, the ACM’s consumer information service, gives guidance and collects reports that feed into enforcement. The Legal Services Counter (Juridisch Loket) gives free initial advice, and subsidised legal aid may be available depending on your income. Consumer claims are heard by the subdistrict court (kantonrechter), where you may act without a lawyer. What decides the case is a well-documented file: the contract, the information you did or did not receive, and your cancellation notice.

Be careful with collection agencies. A trader who ignores a valid cancellation sometimes passes the claim to a debt collector. Collection costs may only be charged if the statutory rules on prior notice and on the maximum collection costs for consumers have been followed. Reply in writing, dispute the claim and refer to your cancellation. Do not pay anything that is not owed. Staying silent is what can turn a disputed claim into a default judgment.

How do you protect yourself at the door?

The simplest rule: do not sign during the visit. Ask for the offer in writing by e-mail, say that you compare every quotation, and close the door on that note. A trader who objects to a written quotation and a night to think it over is telling you something useful. Ask for the company name and the Chamber of Commerce number, and look the company up while the salesperson is still there. Check whether the company on the contract is the same one the salesperson named.

Watch out for the standard pressure techniques: a price that is only valid today, a claim that the neighbours have already signed, a limited number of places, a discount that requires an immediate signature, or an offer to fill in the form for you. None of these is illegal in itself. But combined with a signature obtained on the spot, they form exactly the pattern that supports an argument about an aggressive commercial practice later. If you do sign, read what you signed that same evening. Check whether you received the written information, the contract copy and the cancellation form.

Municipal rules can help. Many municipalities regulate door-to-door selling in their general local by-law (Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening). They may, for example, set permitted hours, require a permit for certain activities, or attach consequences to a sticker on the door. The rules differ per municipality. If callers are a recurring problem, check your own municipality’s by-law and report persistent breaches to the municipality and to the ACM.

Finally, act quickly if you have doubts. Cancelling costs nothing during the cooling-off period, and a contract that turns out to be fine can always be signed again. Waiting is the one step in this process that can actually cost you money.

Frequently asked questions

Can you cancel if you have already paid? Yes. Payment does not affect the right of cancellation. The trader must refund everything it received within fourteen days of your notice.

Does the right also apply to a contract concluded by telephone? Yes, but under a different heading. A contract concluded entirely at a distance has its own fourteen-day right of cancellation. If the call was followed by a visit at which you signed the contract, it is a contract concluded away from the business premises, and the rules in this article apply.

What if you signed on behalf of your business? Then the statutory consumer protection does not apply, because the contract was concluded in the course of a trade or profession. General contract law can still offer arguments, for example if the trader misled you or never provided its general terms and conditions. But the automatic fourteen-day right does not exist in that case.

Do you have to give the goods back before you get your money? You must return them within fourteen days of your notice. The trader may hold back the refund until the goods are back or until you have proved that you sent them.

In summary

• A contract signed with a salesperson at your door can be cancelled within fourteen days, without a reason and without a penalty (articles 6:230g to 6:230z of the Dutch Civil Code).
• If the trader did not inform you properly about this right, the period is extended by up to twelve months.
• The trader must refund your payments within fourteen days of your notice; you must return any goods within fourteen days.
• If work started early without your express request or without the required information, you owe nothing for what was done.
• Keep proof that you sent your cancellation in time; most other points are for the trader to prove.

Unsure where you stand? Tell us about your situation. We will let you know your options within one working day.