Class of insured persons · standing in · run-off cover
Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a junior civil-law notary (kandidaat-notaris)
You work under the responsibility of the notary, but that does not make you immune. Anyone who executes a deed in their own name as a stand-in or assigned notary is at that moment in the chain of liability themselves.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een kandidaat-notaris.
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.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
For a trainee civil-law notary the question is rarely whether there is professional indemnity insurance, but whose insurance it is. Under the professional and conduct rules of the KNB (the Dutch royal notarial association), notarial firms are required to be insured, and that policy usually names a class of insured persons that includes staff. If you are named there as a category, you are covered as long as you work for that firm. What a BAV covers in general is set out on the hub page on this product.
It becomes different as soon as you do more than prepare. As an assigned notary or as or stand-in you execute deeds in your own right. The duty to act and the ground for refusal in Article 21 of the Dutch Notaries Act then rest on you personally. The duty of care in Article 43 of the Notaries Act – pointing out to the parties the consequences of what they are signing and, where necessary, questioning the party in the weaker position – is in that situation your duty, not that of your principal.
The practical mistakes in this profession are concrete and recur: a search at the Land Registry not updated until just before execution, an attachment or mortgage registration overlooked as a result, an easement that does not appear in the deed, a prenuptial term applied incorrectly or a legacy that conflicts with an earlier will. The loss is almost always pure financial loss: the client loses a right or has to accept a burden he had not foreseen.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
Where things come unstuck for a trainee civil-law notary
Four situations in which the firm's cover is not automatically your cover as well.
Are you insured by name or as a category?
Some policies name only 'the notaries' as insured persons and place staff under a broader description; others require trainee civil-law notaries to be declared by name. Ask for the policy schedule and the clause sheets and check the wording. A claim that comes in years later is tested against the text as it was then, not against what it says now.
Moving on leaves a gap
The firm's policy works on a claims-madebasis: what counts is when the claim is made. If you leave the firm, then for deeds from your time there you depend on whether that firm keeps the cover in place and whether you still fall within the insured persons. On a merger, closure or transfer of the notarial protocol that is far from self-evident. On leaving, have it recorded in writing how run-off cover is arranged.
Client money and fraud fall outside
The client account of Article 25 of the Dutch Notaries Act (Wna) is a separate fund, but a BAV does not cover misappropriation or other deliberate acts. Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes loss the insured caused intentionally, and policies extend that to fraud within the organisation. A shortfall arising from false payment instructions in a purchase and sale does not belong on the BAV either. That is a risk for a cyber insurance.
Disciplinary law and fines are not insured losses
A complaint to the notarial disciplinary chamber can lead to a warning, a reprimand or a suspension. That sanction hits you personally and is not compensation, so it is uninsurable. The same applies to administrative fines for shortcomings in the Wwft (the Dutch anti-money laundering act)obligations around client due diligence and reporting unusual transactions. Some policies do pay the cost of legal assistance in disciplinary proceedings; check whether that section is included.
What does your premium depend on?
- Number of civil-law notaries and junior notaries: the size of the class of insured persons
- Areas of practice: property, company law or family practice
- Transaction volume: the number of deeds executed per year
- Arrangements for standing in: whether you regularly stand in for others
- Retroactive date: from what moment earlier deeds are included
- Excess per claim: a higher excess lowers the premium
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| Standing in, you execute a transfer deed when an attachment registered the day before escaped your notice | No | Yes |
| A right of way does not appear in the deed and the buyer has no access | No | Yes |
| A client accuses you of not going through the consequences of a guarantee she co-signed | No | Yes |
| A buyer demands back the transfer tax overpaid because an exemption was applied incorrectly | No | Yes |
| A visitor trips over a loose skirting board in the firm's waiting area | Yes | No |
| The firm wants to recover from you the hours it spent putting your file right | No | No |
Even where you work under the notary's responsibility, each claim is tested by asking who executed the deed in their own right.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Can I be sued personally if I work under a notary?
Yes. The client usually claims against the firm, but an injured party can also sue you personally under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code if you acted carelessly yourself. If you execute deeds as an assigned notary or a stand-in, your own role is clearer still. That is why it matters whether you are named as an insured person on the firm's policy and not merely included.
What is the difference from a self-employed notary's policy?
A notary with his own protocol is the policyholder himself and decides on the sum insured, retroactive cover and clauses. As a trainee civil-law notary you are a co-insured and do not have that say: you cannot amend the policy and are not automatically informed of a change or a cancellation. See also professional liability for a notarial firm.
How long can a client come back on a deed?
Considerably longer than most people assume. A claim for damages is time-barred under Article 3:310 of the Dutch Civil Code five years after the injured party becomes aware of the loss and of the liable person, with an outer limit of twenty years after the event. With a will or an easement the defect sometimes only comes to light a generation later.
Do I have to report a mistake before the client complains?
Yes, if you can reasonably suspect that a claim will follow from it. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires notification as soon as you are aware of the event. Report it internally to the policyholder, because that is the insurer's contracting party. Notifying a circumstance prevents a claim from later falling between two policy years or between two firms.
Read more
Within Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekeringthe main page
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering notaris zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering notariskantoor
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering deurwaarderskantoor
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering gerechtsdeurwaarder zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering makelaar zzp
- Beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering jurist zzp
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