Dutch Civil Code

Book 5 Real property rights

Title 5.2 Ownership of movable things

Article 5:4 Occupation
A person who takes possession [in the meaning of Article 3:107] of a movable thing that belongs to no one, obtains the right of ownership of it.

Article 5:5 Finding
- 1. A person who finds an unattended movable object and takes it under control must:
a. with convenient speed report his finding in accordance with paragraph 2, first sentence, to the local authorities [police], unless he has given notice of his finding instantly to the person who he regards as the owner or as the one who is entitled to receive the lost object;
b. in addition, when he has found the lost object in a house, a building or a means of transport, with convenient speed report his finding in accordance with paragraph 2, second sentence, to the person who uses or takes care of the place where the object is found, unless he was not obliged to report his finding to the local authorities [police] by virtue of what is stipulated at the end of point (a);
c. on demand of the Municipality hand the object over to the Municipality in order to enable that Municipality to keep it in safe custody.
- 2. The report meant in paragraph 1 under point (a) can be made in any Municipality to a civil servant appointed to this end by and for that Municipality. The report meant in paragraph 1 under point (b) must be reported to the person who lives in the house or building or who uses the means of transport as referred to in that paragraph or to the person who holds supervision over that house, building or means of transport on behalf of the one who lives there or uses it.
- 3. The finder is at all times entitled to give the found object in safe custody to the Municipality. If he does not do so, he is compelled to maintain the object himself and to keep it in safety.
- 4. The finder may demand that the civil servant, mentioned in paragraph 2, first sentence, supplies a proof of evidence to him indicating that he has reported his finding or given the found object in safe custody to the Municipality.

Article 5:6 Acquisition of the right of ownership of a found object
- 1. The finder who has met the legal requirements of Article 5:5, paragraph 1, acquires the ownership of the found object one year after he has reported it in the way as referred to in Article 5:5, paragraph 1 under point (a), provided that he or the Municipality still have control over the object at that moment.
- 2. If the found object is given in safe custody to the Municipality for another reason than that the Municipality has demanded this, and it is qualified as a non-valuable object under an Order in Council as meant in Article 5:12 under point (b), then paragraph 1 is not applicable; in that event the mayor is entitled to sell the object for account of the Municipality or to hand it over to a third party without financial consideration (gratuitously) or to destroy it, provided that three months have passed since the object was given in safe custody to the Municipality.
- 3. One year after the found object was given in safe custody to the Municipality, the mayor is entitled to sell it for account of the Municipality or to hand it over to a third party without financial consideration (gratuitously) or to destroy it, provided that neither paragraph 1 nor paragraph 2 is applicable.
- 4. The previous paragraphs do not apply when the owner of the found object or another person who is entitled to receive it has reported himself to the person or institution who keeps the object in safe custody, provided that this report has been made before the applicable period has expired or, in the situations meant in paragraph 2 and 3, after this period has expired, yet at a moment on which the Municipality reasonably is still able to hand it over to him.

Article 5:7 Transfer of the rights that the finder has obtained by law
By immediately handing over the found object to the occupant of the house or to the user, operator or supervisor of the space where the object was found, the finder can transfer his rights, derived in that capacity from law, together with all attached legal duties and obligations, to that occupant, user or operator, on the understanding that there is no right to a reward.

Article 5:8 Sale or destruction of the found object or animal
- 1. If a found object that is given in safe custody to the Municipality is highly susceptible to destruction or decay or if its preservation can no longer be expected of the Municipality because of the disproportional high costs or of other disadvantages, then the mayor is entitled to sell it.
- 2. If the object does not lend itself to be sold, then the mayor is entitled to transfer its ownership without financial consideration (gratuitously) to a third party, or to destroy it.
- 3. If the found object is an animal that has been kept in safe custody by the Municipality for at least two weeks, then the mayor is entitled to transfer its ownership to a third party, if possible against payment of a purchase price and otherwise without financial consideration (gratuitously). If even that is impossible, then the mayor may kill the animal. It is not necessary to observe the period of two weeks if it is only possible to keep the animal with disproportionately high costs during that period or if the animal has to be killed for medical reasons.
- 4. The proceeds of the sale will replace (take the place of) the found object.

Article 5:9 Money that has been found
Where the found object that is given in safe custody to the Municipality concerns money, the Municipality only has to pay out the same amount to the person who claims it rightfully, which duty ends as soon as the requirements are met that, in the event of another found object than money, would allow the mayor to sell that object for account of the Municipality.

Article 5:10 Costs of safe custody and finder's reward
- 1. The person who demands that the Municipality or the finder who has met the requirements imposed upon him by Article 5:5, paragraph 1, returns the found object to him, must pay the costs of maintenance and safe keeping of the object as well as the costs of locating the rightful owner or someone who is entitled to receive the object in his place. The Municipality or finder may withhold the handing over of the object until these costs are paid. If the person who claims the return of the found object does not pay the costs within one month after he has received a specification of the involved expenditures, he is regarded to have abandoned (waived) his right to the found object.
- 2. The finder who has met all necessary legal requirements imposed upon him, is entitled, in view of the circumstances, to a reasonable finder's reward.

Article 5:11 The finder does not collect the found object in time after he has obtained ownership
When a finder, who by virtue of Article 5:6, paragraph 1, has become the owner of the found object that is given in safe custody to the Municipality, has not presented himself to the Municipality to collect the object within one month after he has acquired the ownership of it, the mayor is entitled either to sell the object for account of the Municipality or to transfer it without financial consideration (gratuitously) to a third party or, otherwise, to destroy it.

Article 5:12 Additional rules by Order in Council
By or pursuant to Order in Council it is possible:
a. to issue further rules concerning the execution (exercise) of the rights which the Municipality has derived from Article 5:5 up to and including 5:11;
b. to point out groups of non-valuable objects to which Article 5:6, paragraph 2, shall apply;
c. to issue further rules concerning the appointment of certain categories of persons and institutions that are excluded, fully or partly, whether or not under additional conditions, from the duty referred to in Article 5:5, paragraph 1 under point (a), to report the finding or that are equated with a Municipality for the purpose of settling the factual consequences of the finding;
d. to equate certain types of objects which are left behind or forgotten with found objects as meant in the previous Articles, if this happens for the purpose of settling the factual consequences of a finding by persons or institutions as meant under point (c).

Article 5:13 Treasures
- 1. A found treasure belongs for equal parts to the one who has discovered it and the owner of the movable or immovable property in which it was found.
- 2. A treasure is a thing of value which has been hidden for such a long time that, as a result, it is no longer possible to trace its owner.
- 3. The person who has discovered the treasure must report his finding in accordance with Article 5:5, paragraph 1 under point (a). If the finding is not reported or if it is uncertain to whom the treasure belongs, the Municipality may demand, in conformity with Article 5:5, paragraph 1 under point (c), that the treasure must be given in safe custody to the Municipality until it is has been established who is the proprietor of the object.

Article 5:14 Accession to property
- 1. If a movable thing becomes a component of another movable thing, which has to be regarded as the principal thing, then the ownership of the movable thing passes over to the owner of the principal thing.
- 2. If none of the movable things can be pointed out as the principle thing and they belong to different owners, then these owners will become co-owners of the new thing, each of them for a share proportionally to the value of the movable thing he owned before .
- 3. The principal thing is the thing of which the value exceeds the value of the other thing considerably or the thing that is regarded by generally accepted views (common opinion) as the principal thing.

Article 5:15 Intermixture (intermingling) of movable property
When movable things which belong to different owners are intermixed (intermingled) in such a way that they have become one single thing, the previous Article shall apply accordingly.

Article 5:16 Creation of a new thing
- 1. If someone creates a new thing out of one or more different movable things, then this new formed thing is owned by the owner of the original things. Where these things belonged to different owners, the previous two Articles shall apply accordingly.
- 2. If someone creates a new thing for himself or if he lets another person make a new thing for him, and the new thing is created entirely or partially from one or more movable things that did not belong to him, then he becomes the owner of the new formed thing, unless this is not justified because of the modest costs involved in the creation of the new thing.
- 3. The previous paragraphs apply accordingly to the processing of different substances into a newly created substance and to the cultivation of plants (vegetation).

Article 5:17 Perception of fruits (benefits)
The person who, due to a right of enjoyment to a thing, is entitled to the fruits (benefits) that this thing produces, acquires the ownership of these fruits (benefits) as soon as they are separated from that thing

Article 5:18 Loss of ownership
The ownership of a movable thing is lost when the owner abandons his possession [in the meaning of Article 3:107] of the thing with the intention to dispose himself of the ownership thereof.

Article 5:19 Loss of animals
- 1. The owner of a domesticated animal loses the ownership thereof, when the animal has escaped from his control and has run wild.
- 2. The owner of another than a domesticated animal loses the ownership thereof, when the animal obtains its freedom and the owner does not try to catch it immediately or has stopped his attempts to catch it.