What is the best thing to do in connection with a purchase contract for a commercial property?

Questioner

Hello, I recently signed a purchase contract for a commercial property. The contract states that I own the entire land and that I do not have a leasehold. After signing, I was called by the selling agent 2 days before the takeover to say that there was a very small piece of leasehold on it. I absolutely did not want this, but now I am faced with many costs. And I feel a bit ripped off. On advice, I put the seller in default to deliver what I signed for. That has now expired. Yesterday I received this letter back from the selling agent: In response to your letter of January 18, 2021, I inform you as follows: You have purchased an apartment right with complex designation 950A, apartment index 20. This includes two parts. Part a is an undivided share in the community consisting of a plot of land and two sub-lease rights. Part b consists of the right to the exclusive use of the business premises, locally known as Coriet van Alphen-Roosstraat 19 in Rotterdam. This is explicitly not a leasehold. The (by far) most important part of the sold property is therefore not a right of (sub)leasehold. The fact that the property sold also includes three undivided shares, two of which are in a right of sub-leasehold, has little significance for the property you have purchased. You can therefore not reasonably take the position that you are not obliged to purchase. Seller hereby declares you in default to still accept within eight days from today. If you do not comply with this, seller will consider himself free to proceed to dissolution and claim the contractual penalty. ´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´´ My question to you is, what is the best thing for me to do now and do I have any chance if this ends up in court? My opinion is that a small amount of leasehold is also leasehold and therefore, despite it being a small piece, it is not what I signed for. Thank you in advance, Yours sincerely,

Lawyer

Is something else also stated in the preliminary purchase contract? In that case, the brochure, other advertisements and texts must be compared with it. You are expected to know the content of the contract. You state that it is not in it; the question is whether this is sufficient reason for termination or price reduction (the latter is more likely). It must be investigated. What you have discovered seems to me to be reason to negotiate the price again.