Liability when purchasing a boat | Legal advice

Questioner

Mid-May 2015 I bought a second-hand ship from a private individual. The story is a bit difficult to explain without photos. This is a console boat with a polyester superstructure. When purchasing, we received written confirmation that the boat was in excellent condition. When viewing it, a spot on the console stood out that had been repaired. And some smaller spots under the windows. Seller indicated that it just needed to be touched up a bit. Ergo, today it turned out that the superstructure of which the sandwich construction (poly/wood/poly) is made is partly rotten. The entire woodwork under the front windows is rotten. Also on the roof a number of places that are rotten. The damage I estimate at a few thousand euros for repair. Can we still hold the seller liable and how do we approach this? This is not what I expected and also the purchase price of 16,500 euros was based on a ship in good condition. The purchase of the ship was concluded via an ANWB sales contract. No guarantee.

Lawyer

These types of cases concern the question of whether you as a buyer have made sufficient investigations prior to the purchase and whether the seller has consciously or unconsciously concealed defects in the ship that should have been known to him. The price you paid and the promises that were made play an important role in this, as well as the question of whether the defects could easily have come to light by further investigating the condition of the ship. You could (via a lawyer) hold the seller liable for the discovered defects on the basis of non-conformity or error. But it is not easy.