Preface

You have a monetary claim against a bankrupt company or a company that has been granted a suspension of payment (also known as a moratorium). Or a private person or a sole trader in a debt restructuring scheme (WSNP) owes you money.

The bankruptcy trustee or administrator may ask you to submit claims via crediteurenlijst.nl but you can also do so on your own initiative. You can submit a claim via Crediteurenlijst.nl in all bankruptcies in the Netherlands.

Guidance on claim submission

If you use Crediteurenlijst.nl you are assured that you provide the trustee with all the information he needs. Moreover, the trustee in bankruptcy can view your information and immediately contact you through the application.

Your advantage: you receive confirmation of the submitted claim quickly by e-mail. Sometimes you can use this confirmation to quickly reclaim VAT paid (only if you have paid VAT to the Dutch tax authorities). In such event, the trustee will let you know through the confirmation of your submitted claim.

Save your login codes

With your login codes you can view your submitted claims at a later date and report changes regarding your claims. You can also change your contact details.

You must submit your claim in three steps.

step 1

You indicate against which company or person you claim a receivable and on what legal ground your claim is based.

step 2

You enter the details of your claim: principal, VAT (if any) and additional costs. If you have several claims, you can submit them together as one claim. Simply add the amounts and upload the supporting documents as one scan or one after the other.

In addition to your principal claim, you can also submit a claim for additional costs. For example: collection costs that you may have incurred, or accrued interest. Please do not enter here the principal claim excluding VAT!

... then a few tricky questions:

Question: "Is there a priority right to the claim?"

Most creditors have no priority claim (also called preference). Every priority right must be based on the law. E.g.: the claims of the Tax Authorities and the social security authority have priority. Claims regarding wages and pension claims also have priority. Claims for consultancy fees have no priority. And there is no priority attached to trade receivables from suppliers.

next question: "Has a security interest been stipulated for the claim (for example: retention of title, right of pledge, mortgage)."

See the 'useful tips' below about what you should pay attention to. If you have a security right you must act swiftly. Crediteurenlijst.nl offers you the possibility to inform the bankruptcy trustee immediately about your security rights.

last question:

"Do you have a claim for RENT or WAGES that arose AFTER the declaration of bankruptcy? "

Only claims concerning rent or wages for the period after the bankruptcy order (or debts incurred by the trustee himself) have the status of estate claim. If you have a claim against the estate, you split the claim into a part that arose before the bankruptcy date and a part after the bankruptcy date. Only the part after the bankruptcy date can be submitted as estate claim.

If you have another claim that continues after the bankruptcy date (which results from a so-called continuing performance contract), you can send a comment about this when you submit your claim.

step 3

Check the data you entered and adjust if necessary before submitting the claim.

Useful tips to get more out of a bankruptcy

Retention of title - As a supplier, have you stipulated retention of title? This must have been done when you entered into the agreement with the debtor. For example, by applying your general terms and conditions that include a retention of title. Check your general terms and conditions. You must inform the trustee of your claim for retention of title when registering your claim and you must be able to show supporting documents. The delivered goods must still be in the unaltered (unprocessed and unprocessed) state with the debtor. The bankruptcy trustee will assess whether you can take back any remaining items. In that case you must issue a credit note for the returned items. After all, your claim no longer relates to those returned goods. The bankruptcy trustee can demand a contribution from you for reasonable costs of delivering your goods. You have the right to submit an additional claim for the damage that you have suffered due to the costs of retrieving the items.

Security rights - What is often overlooked is that there may be a security interest (e.g. right of pledge or lien). Sometimes applicable terms and conditions establish a lien on the items that the creditor has in his possession. The terms and conditions must have been made applicable in a legally correct manner. If positive, the bankruptcy trustee cannot ignore your right of pledge but can set a term to exercise it, which term must observe. If you are not regularly involved in exercising lien or security interests, you may want to consult a lawyer.

Right of retention - If you still have items in your possession of the debtor and you have carried out work with respect to such items, you can keep the items under your control if the outstanding costs for the work have not yet been paid and demand that the bankruptcy trustee pay those costs. If the trustee does not want to settle the claim for costs, you can liquidate the item and satisfy your claim from the proceeds. Any surplus must be paid out to the trustee. Bear in mind that the bankruptcy trustee can claim the item from you. In that event, you retain priority over the proceeds of the item sold by the bankruptcy trustee.

Right to reclaim goods - In the event of the sale and transfer of movable assets, as a supplier you can invoke article 7:39 of the Dutch Civil Code to take back the unpaid goods that are still in the debtor's possession in an unaltered state. You can only exercise this right for sixty days after the goods have been delivered and to the extent that less than six weeks have elapsed since the invoice relating to those goods should have been paid (due and payable). After expiry of these terms, the right to reclaim expires (Section 7:44 of the Dutch Civil Code). The supplier must send a written statement to the bankruptcy trustee or the administrator, whereby the remaining items are reclaimed and a reasonable period has to be granted to the trustee to  pay the purchase price. In the event you reclaim goods, you must issue a credit note. The right to reclaim is often overlooked but can significantly improve your position.

Disclaimer - This information is general information only. You cannot derive any rights from this in individual cases.