Statute of limitations in Dutch law: periods and how to interrupt them

A claim that has prescribed under Dutch law (verjaring) does not disappear, but it can no longer be enforced in court once the debtor invokes the limitation period. Five years is the standard period for performance of a contract and for damages, twenty years is the residual period, and a claim from a sale prescribes two years after the buyer has notified the seller of the defect. You keep a claim alive by interrupting the period (stuiting), for example with a written demand that unambiguously reserves your right to performance.

The rules are in Title 11 of Book 3 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). Below we set out which period applies to which claim, when the clock starts, how you interrupt or extend it, and what remains of a claim once the period has run. For the concept of a claim itself, see our article on what a claim is under Dutch law.

What is verjaring, and how does it differ from a vervaltermijn?

Verjaring means you lose the right to have your claim enforced by the court once a statutory period has run. A forfeiture period (vervaltermijn) is stricter: once it has passed, the right itself is gone.

Under verjaring, the obligation survives as a natural obligation (natuurlijke verbintenis, Article 6:3 BW), so a debtor who voluntarily pays a prescribed debt cannot reclaim the money. The court may not apply prescription of its own motion (Article 3:322 BW): the debtor must invoke it, in correspondence or in the statement of defence. And prescription can be interrupted, which resets the clock, so a claim from 2015 can still be enforceable today.

A forfeiture period cannot be interrupted or extended, and the court applies it of its own motion. Dutch employment law contains many of them: a petition to annul a dismissal, including a summary dismissal (ontslag op staande voet), must be filed within two months, and a claim for the transition payment (transitievergoeding) within three months (Article 7:686a(4) BW). Alongside both sits the duty to complain: under Article 6:89 BW a creditor loses the right to rely on a defect in performance if it does not protest within a reasonable time after discovering it. Our glossary entry on the limitation period sets out the terminology in short form.

Which limitation period applies to your claim?

That depends on the type of claim. Dutch law has a series of specific periods, and the residual twenty-year period of Article 3:306 BW applies only where no shorter rule fits.

Which claims prescribe after five years?

Most contractual claims and all periodic payments. Under Article 3:307 BW, a claim to performance under an agreement prescribes five years after the day it became due and payable (opeisbaar): unpaid invoices, undelivered goods, an unpaid purchase price.

Article 3:308 BW gives the same five years to interest, rent, dividends and other periodic payments, and each instalment has its own starting date. A claim for undue payment (Article 3:309 BW) and a claim to terminate an agreement (ontbinding) or to have defective performance put right (Article 3:311 BW) prescribe five years after the creditor became aware of it, and in any event twenty years after it arose.

How does the two-year period in a sale work?

The two years run from the buyer’s complaint, not from delivery. Before that, the buyer must notify the seller of the defect in good time.

Under Article 7:23 BW the buyer must first notify the seller within a reasonable time (bekwame tijd) after discovering the defect. In a consumer sale of a movable item, notification within two months of discovery is deemed timely; for other sales, including a house, the reasonable-time test applies in full. The legal claim then prescribes two years after that notification. In a consumer sale, a defect that appears within one year of delivery is presumed to have existed at delivery (Article 7:18 BW).

When does the twenty-year period apply?

Whenever no shorter period is prescribed (Article 3:306 BW). A claim to end an unlawful situation, such as an encroaching structure, runs for twenty years from the day its immediate ending could have been demanded (Article 3:314 BW).

The power to enforce a court decision also prescribes twenty years after the day following the decision (Article 3:324 BW). Amounts that only fall due more than six months after the decision, such as periodic instalments, are subject to a five-year period. Enforcement prescription is interrupted by an act of enforcement, by service of the judgment and by acknowledgement (Article 3:325 BW). Our article on preliminary hearings under Dutch law covers the route to a judgment, and our guide to debt collection in the Netherlands the steps that follow.

Are there special periods outside these rules?

Yes. Insurance claims have their own regime in Article 7:942 BW, interrupted by notifying the claim to the insurer. Tax debts follow the General State Taxes Act (Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen) and the Tax Collection Act 1990 (Invorderingswet 1990), each with their own periods. Never transpose a civil period onto a public-law debt without checking the applicable statute.

When does the limitation clock start?

As a rule, on the day after the claim becomes due and payable. An invoice payable on 31 March starts running on 1 April, and the five-year period of Article 3:307 BW expires at the end of 31 March five years later.

No fixed due date. For a loan repayable on demand, the five years only start on the day after the date for which the creditor has called in the claim (Article 3:307(2) BW). The claim prescribes in any event twenty years after repayment could first have been demanded.

Damages. Under Article 3:310 BW the five years start on the day after the injured party actually knows both the damage and the person liable; a mere suspicion is not enough. A long-stop of twenty years after the damaging event applies, thirty years for environmental pollution and dangerous substances, and none at all for personal injury and death. Our article on when a claim expires under Dutch law works through these starting points in more detail.

Criminal offence. A civil claim for damages caused by a criminal offence does not prescribe as long as the offence can still be prosecuted (Article 3:310(4) BW). Under Article 70 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht, Sr) those periods run from three years for minor offences up to twenty years for serious crimes, and the gravest offences do not prescribe at all.

How do you interrupt the limitation period?

By starting proceedings, by a written demand that unambiguously reserves your right to performance, or through the debtor’s acknowledgement of the claim. Interruption wipes out the time elapsed and starts a fresh period.

Proceedings. Issuing a writ or filing an application interrupts the period (Article 3:316 BW). If the claim is withdrawn or the proceedings end without a decision on the merits, the interruption lapses unless you bring a new claim within six months. Consider securing recovery at the same time with a pre-judgment attachment in the Netherlands.

Written demand. Under Article 3:317 BW, a written demand (aanmaning) or a written communication in which you unambiguously reserve your right to performance interrupts the period. A reminder that merely notes an outstanding balance is not enough. For claims other than performance, a written warning only interrupts if followed within six months by legal action.

Acknowledgement. The debtor’s acknowledgement interrupts the period (Article 3:318 BW) and needs no formality. A partial payment, a request for a payment arrangement or an email confirming the invoice will be dealt with can each be an acknowledgement.

After an interruption a new period starts on the following day. It equals the original period but is never longer than five years (Article 3:319 BW), so an interrupted twenty-year period is followed by five years, not twenty.

What should an interruption letter contain?

An interruption letter (stuitingsbrief) identifies the claim precisely, states the amount, refers to the agreement or invoice and closes with an express reservation of the right to performance and to legal action. The creditor must prove that the letter reached the debtor (Article 150 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure, Rv), so send it by registered post or by email with delivery confirmation. Address it to the correct legal entity: check the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) register first, because a letter to the wrong group company interrupts nothing.

When is the limitation period extended?

Only on the grounds listed in Article 3:321 BW, and never by more than six months after that ground has ended. Extension (verlenging) does not freeze the clock.

Under Article 3:320 BW, if a period would expire while a ground for extension exists, or within six months after it ends, it runs on until six months after the ground has gone. The grounds include claims between spouses or registered partners, between a legal person and its directors, between a minor and their legal representative, and a debtor who deliberately conceals the debt. Force majeure on the creditor’s side is not on the list.

Settlement negotiations do not stop the clock under Dutch law. Send an interruption letter during the talks, or ask the debtor to acknowledge the claim in writing, which interrupts the period under Article 3:318 BW. A clause in which the debtor waives prescription in advance is not valid, because waiver is only possible once the period has run (Article 3:322(3) BW).

What is left of a claim once it has prescribed?

A natural obligation: the debt still exists, but you can no longer have it enforced by the court. It still has value in three ways.

• Payment is valid. A debtor who pays a prescribed debt voluntarily cannot reclaim the money (Article 6:3 BW).
• Set-off survives. The power to set off does not end through prescription of the claim (Article 6:131 BW). An old invoice can still extinguish a new debt you owe the same counterparty.
• Waiver is possible. Once the period has run, the debtor can waive the completed prescription (Article 3:322 BW), for example by unambiguously acknowledging the debt and stating it will not invoke prescription.

Can parties shorten the limitation period by contract?

Between businesses, a clause reducing the period to, for example, one year is generally valid. With consumers, a clause in general terms cutting a limitation or forfeiture period to less than one year is on the blacklist of Article 6:236 BW and can be annulled. Check this whenever you face standard terms in a civil law dispute.

What should you check as a creditor?

Record the expiry date of every claim and act at least six months before it. That leaves time to find the right entity, draft a valid letter and, if needed, issue proceedings.

• The due date of each invoice or instalment, and the resulting five-year expiry date under Articles 3:307 and 3:308 BW.
• Whether your reminders actually reserve the right to performance as Article 3:317 BW requires; automated reminders usually do not.
• Proof that each interruption letter reached the debtor.
• The correct legal entity of the debtor in the KvK register.
• Whether settlement talks are running without an interruption or written acknowledgement.
• Whether an old, prescribed claim can still be set off against a new debt to the same party.

What should you check as a debtor?

Before you reply to an old demand, establish whether the period has run. The court will not raise prescription for you.

• When the obligation became due and which period applies.
• Whether anything interrupted the period: a formal demand, a writ, a payment or an email that reads as an acknowledgement.
• Whether each instalment in a running account has its own expiry date, so that the oldest have prescribed.
• That your reply does not acknowledge the debt or offer a partial payment.
• That you invoke prescription explicitly and in writing, and again in any statement of defence.

What can we do for you with limitation periods?

We act for creditors and debtors in claims where time is running out or has run out.

• We determine the applicable period and the exact expiry date of your claim.
• We draft and send an interruption letter that meets Article 3:317 BW, with proof of delivery.
• We issue proceedings before the expiry date, including before the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) for claims up to €25,000; see our article on small claims in the Netherlands.
• We request a pre-judgment attachment where recovery is at risk.
• We review an old demand you received and draft a reply that invokes prescription without acknowledging the debt.

Summary

• Prescription (verjaring) does not extinguish a claim; it removes the power to enforce it, and only if the debtor invokes it (Article 3:322 BW).
• Five years applies to contractual performance and periodic payments (Articles 3:307 and 3:308 BW) and to damages from actual knowledge (Article 3:310 BW); twenty years is the residual period and the period for enforcing a judgment.
• In a sale, the claim prescribes two years after the buyer’s complaint about the defect (Article 7:23 BW).
• You interrupt the period by proceedings, an unambiguous written demand or the debtor’s acknowledgement; a plain reminder or settlement talks are not enough.
• After expiry, set-off remains possible (Article 6:131 BW) and the debtor can waive the completed prescription.

Frequently asked questions