The Key Transfer

What you should be handed, when the risk actually passes to you, why changing the locks is worth it, and the trap of getting the keys early.

The keys are the last step of the purchase and the first step of ownership. It is a short, cheerful moment — and there are three things worth getting right while it happens, because all of them are harder to fix afterwards.

When you get them

The keys are released once the notary has confirmed that the transfer deed is signed, your money has been distributed to the seller and their lender, and the deed has gone to the Land Registry. That is usually the same appointment, sometimes an hour or two later.

Where the handover happens varies. Often it is at the notary's office, straight after signing. Sometimes the seller or the estate agent meets you at the property, which has the advantage that you can try every key in its own lock while someone is still there to explain the one you cannot place.

When the risk actually passes

This is the detail most guides get wrong, including an earlier version of this one. The property is at your risk from the moment the transfer deed is signed, not from the moment a key lands in your hand. The deed says so explicitly.

That has one practical consequence: your buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) must be active from the transfer date, not from moving day. Your mortgage lender will require it as a condition of the loan in any case. If you are buying an apartment, check before you buy a policy — the owners' association (VvE) almost always insures the building collectively, so what you need is contents cover and possibly a small supplementary policy, not a full buildings policy you would be paying for twice.

What you should receive

Count what you are handed against what was agreed, before you leave:

Ask directly whether any other copies exist — a cleaner, a neighbour, a family member, a former tenant. Sellers answer this honestly and often remember a set they had forgotten.

Change the locks anyway

Even with an honest answer, you cannot know how many keys have been cut over the life of the house. Replacing the cylinders is the cheapest security you will ever buy: a good SKG-certified cylinder costs tens of euros, and swapping one is a ten-minute job with a screwdriver if you can measure the old one accurately.

It is also worth checking what your contents insurer expects. Many Dutch policies assume approved locks on external doors, and a burglary claim is a poor moment to discover that yours are not.

The trap: keys before the transfer

Sellers sometimes offer early access so you can paint, measure or start work before completion. It is a kind offer and it carries real risk, because handing over the keys early moves the risk to you early too — before you own the house, and possibly before your insurance starts.

If the sale then falls through, you have decorated someone else's property. If the house burns down in the meantime, the question of who insured it becomes expensive.

If you do it anyway, insist on a written key statement (sleutelverklaring) drawn up by the notary or the agent, setting out who bears the risk from when, what you are allowed to do, and what happens if the transfer does not complete. Tell your insurer the same day. Never accept early keys on a handshake.

The first hour in the house

Before the removal van arrives and the boxes hide everything:

Then the admin starts

You have five days from moving in to register your new address with the municipality, and your utility contracts need the readings you just took. The moving guide covers the whole list — and the house is now, finally, yours.