Preferential right of purchase in lease does not apply – September 7, 2018 – mr. AW Dolphin
The District Court of The Hague ruled on 5 September 2018, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2018:10554, that a share transaction within the tenant’s organization does not mean that the landlord can invoke the pre-emptive right stipulated in favor of the landlord of buy.
However, it should be noted that the rental agreement and the pre-emptive right of purchase were concluded at the time by expert parties and expert advisers and that there was an ‘intercompany’ rental agreement within the same group. Therefore, according to the court, great weight should be attached to the linguistic meaning of the chosen wording of the agreement in this specific case. Therefore, the pre-emptive right of purchase cannot be circumvented in all cases by means of a transaction of the shares in the lessee.
mr. AW Dolphin – franchise lawyer
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