Legal expenses insurance (rechtsbijstandverzekering) for the hospitality sector
This page explains which modules a hospitality policy is built up from and which of them you need. For your specific type of business the details are on a separate page.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Business legal expenses insurance is not a single cover but a set of modules you switch on or off one by one. In hospitality there are five: employment law, tenancy law, contracts and suppliers, debt collection, and administrative law for licences. Which combination you need depends on the type of business. This page is the signpost; the detail differs per business.
For a bar administrative law is the most important module, because trading depends on a licence. For a restaurant it is about suppliers and about food safety supervision. For a hotel the contracts with booking platforms and the cover abroad are decisive.
What none of these modules does: pay a fine or penalty payment, take on a dispute already running at the start, handle a case below the minimum interest or within the waiting period, or act in a conflict between partners or shareholders.
What does legal expenses insurance for hospitality cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Basic
Business operations
The disputes that arise from running a business itself.
Contracts and deliveries
Collecting your invoices
A dispute with a supplier
Extension
Separate modules
What you add separately.
Employment law and staff
Rent of the business premises
Tax and social security
Limits
What falls outside it
What the policy will not take on.
A dispute dating from before the start date
Below the threshold
During the waiting period
What is covered
Situation
Basic module
With extension
Dispute with a client about work delivered
Yes
Yes
Collection of an unpaid invoice
Provided that
Yes
Employment dispute with an employee
No
Yes
Dispute with the landlord of your business premises
No
Yes
Tax dispute with the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority)
No
Provided that
A dispute that was already running before the start date
No
No
Business legal expenses insurance has a waiting period and a threshold: a case is not taken on below a certain financial interest. Employment law, tenancy law and tax law are usually in separate modules. In legal proceedings you have a free choice of lawyer. A dispute whose cause already existed when the policy was taken out is excluded.
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Employment law is the module used most often
Hospitality works with on-call staff, seasonal workers and many short contracts. Disputes are about the chain rule, payment for hours, sickness reporting during the season and summary dismissal. That is the standard module on almost every policy, but watch the waiting period: a conflict already running when the policy was taken out falls outside the cover, even if the employee's letter only arrives later.
In hospitality, tenancy law is a separate module
Hospitality premises fall under the business space regime with its own periods for notice, substitution of tenant and rent review. Disputes about that concern your location and therefore your whole business. Many business policies offer tenancy law only as an extension, or exclude rent review. Check that before a renewal or a takeover, because it is exactly around those moments that the conflict with the landlord arises.
Administrative law decides whether you can stay open
Licences, closing times, noise limits and food safety supervision are matters of administrative law. The local authority or the regulator takes a decision, and an objection is open against it within a short deadline. Without this module you are on your own in that process. Report as soon as a decision is proposed and not only when it is issued, because that is the moment when the case can still be influenced.
Debt collection and contracts are two different things
The debt collection module collects undisputed invoices: a group booking that was not paid, a corporate package still outstanding. As soon as the customer or supplier disputes it on the merits, the case moves to the contracts module. If you have only included debt collection, the assistance stops exactly when a defence is raised. Take both if you work with supplier agreements or business customers.
What does your premium depend on?
Combination of modules chosen. Each module counts separately; administrative law and tenancy law are the usual extensions.
Type of hospitality business. A drinks-led bar, restaurant, hotel or catering business each has a different pattern of conflict.
Number of employees. The wage bill and the number of contracts drive the use of the employment law module.
Whether the premises are rented or owned. Determines whether tenancy law is needed and how much weight that module carries.
Geographical scope of the cover. The Netherlands or wider; important with suppliers or platforms abroad.
Excess and the limit for external costs. The amount you bear yourself and the limit for an external lawyer.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Employment law in almost all cases, because staff are the most common source of conflict. Beyond that it depends on your business: if you rent the premises, tenancy law; if your trading depends on a licence, administrative law. If you buy a lot from regular suppliers, contracts. Choose selectively rather than taking everything, because unused modules cost premium.
Can I still include a conflict that is already running?
No. Every legal expenses policy excludes disputes that already existed or were reasonably foreseeable when it was taken out, and also has a waiting period. If there is already a letter from an employee, a landlord or the local authority, that case falls outside the new policy. That is the reason to take out this cover in a quiet period.
May I choose my own lawyer?
In court or administrative proceedings you have the right to free choice of lawyer. Outside those proceedings the legal expenses insurer handles the case with its own lawyers. There is also a maximum amount for external costs. Ask about that limit, because in long-running proceedings it determines how far you get with a lawyer of your own.
Does legal expenses cover also cover a claim from a guest?
No. If someone claims compensation from you, for instance after an injury on your premises, your liability insurer takes over the defence. Legal expenses cover is there for conflicts in which you want to enforce something yourself or in which there is no claim for compensation. If in doubt, report an incident to both insurers, because one event can touch both policies.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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