Professional indemnity insurance (BAV) for a notary's office
At a firm a mistake rarely comes from the notary who executes the deed. It comes from the chain before that: a detail copied incorrectly, a search carried out too early, a template that was never updated.
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In brief
A notarial firm is required to be insured under the professional and conduct rules of the KNB (the Dutch royal notarial association). What often gets too little attention is the group of insured persons. Alongside the notaries there are trainee civil-law notaries, paralegals, secretarial staff and sometimes outsourced search agencies. The claim comes in to the firm, but is tested by asking whether the person who made the mistake is an insured person. Have staff and third parties engaged expressly included. For the general explanation of the product we refer you to the hub page on the BAV.
A firm risk that a one-person practice does not have is the series claim. A model deed with a defective clause, a standard working method missing a check, or an out-of-date template for a prenuptial agreement affects not one client but everyone who signed that template. So read how your policy treats related claims and what the maximum per insurance year is; at firms the pinch point lies there and not in the amount per claim.
The third theme is the organisation itself. Insurers ask about the four-eyes check before execution, the moment the final Land Registry search is carried out, the procedure for client due diligence under the Wwft (the Dutch anti-money laundering act), the separation of powers around the client account under Article 25 of the Dutch Notaries Act (Wna) and the checks on account numbers when payments are made. Those answers determine underwriting, and when a loss occurs your own procedure is the first document the firm is judged against.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare professional indemnity insurance (BAV).
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Four points for a firm with several fee earners
Subjects on which a notarial firm's cover comes unstuck.
Fraud and client money are not insured losses
Misappropriation by a member of staff, a shortfall on the client account or a payment to a forged account number does not fall under professional liability. Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code excludes loss caused by intent and policies extend that to fraudulent conduct within the organisation. For the digital part of this risk there is cyber insurance; for the internal part, separation of duties is the only real measure.
Fines and disciplinary sanctions stay outside the policy
An administrative fine for shortcomings in the Wwft obligations, a penalty payment or a measure imposed by the notarial disciplinary chamber is a sanction and not compensation. Those costs are not insurable. Do check whether your policy has a section for the cost of legal assistance in disciplinary or regulatory proceedings, because that is the item that mounts up fastest.
Your notaries' secondary roles
Acting as an executor, administrator, arbitrator or director of a foundation connected to a client is a different professional capacity from the notarial office. Tax or estate planning advice alongside the deed is not automatically covered either. Take stock of which secondary roles are performed within the firm and have them named on the policy schedule.
Mergers, succession and transfer of the protocol
When firms merge or a protocol is taken over, old deeds come with them, but the cover does not follow automatically. Because the BAV works on a claims-madebasis, what counts is whether cover is in force at the moment of the claim. Arrange retroactive cover for the acquired practice's past or have the departing notary buy run-off cover, and record that before the transfer is completed.
What does your premium depend on?
- Office turnover: the usual basis for calculation
- Number of civil-law notaries and junior notaries: determines the size of the group of insured persons
- Balance between areas of practice: property, company and family practice
- Number of deeds per year: volume increases the chance of a series claim
- Internal controls: the four-eyes principle, search protocol and payment checks
- Claims history: earlier claims and the measures taken
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What falls under which policy
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| A plot number copied incorrectly so that a strip of land was not transferred | No | Yes |
| A mortgage registration by the previous owner that turns out to have remained in place after the transfer | No | Yes |
| A member of staff books a repayment too late, so that the buyer pays double interest for months | No | Yes |
| A visitor slips in the wet hallway of your office and is injured | Yes | No |
| Water damage in the rented office premises from a tap left running over the weekend | Provided that | No |
| Putting a deed right and re-executing it free of charge after a mistake of your own | No | No |
The AVB is about injury and damage to property at the office, the BAV about financial loss to clients; check on both whether all fee earners are insured persons.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Are our trainee civil-law notaries automatically covered by the firm's policy?
Not always. Some policies name only the notaries as insured persons and place staff under a broader description that is open to argument. Check the definition of insured person word for word and, where necessary, have a category or names added. See also professional indemnity for a junior civil-law notary (kandidaat-notaris) for the position of the person concerned.
When do we have to report a possible mistake?
As soon as you can reasonably suspect that a claim will follow. Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code requires notification as soon as reasonably possible. At a firm that means an internal procedure: every member of staff who spots a possible mistake reports it to one point of contact who assesses whether a circumstance needs to be notified. Admit no liability before the insurer has looked at it.
What if the mistake lies with an external agency we engaged?
Towards your client you are liable for auxiliaries under Article 6:76 of the Dutch Civil Code, even where the mistake was not made at your office. You can then seek recovery from that agency, but that is a second exercise. So require external parties to maintain their own professional indemnity insurance and have it evidenced each year with a certificate of insurance.
Do we also need public and employers' liability insurance (AVB)?
Yes. The BAV covers financial loss arising from mistakes in the exercise of your office. Injury to a client in your waiting area, damage to the rented premises or injury to a member of staff fall outside it. For that there is the public and employers' liability insurance, including the employer's liability section that matches the duty of care in Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
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