The impact of COVID-19 on commercial legal practice is increasing and this also affects the execution of contracts in real estate practice. Contracting parties to, among other things, building contracts, lease agreements and contract for the provision of services are often no longer able to meet their obligations and are faced with delays, cost increases and/or contractual penalties. Unabridged compliance with the aforementioned contracts, however, no longer seems tenable or very onerous under these changed circumstances. To date, case law and literature have been very reluctant to amend contracts on the grounds of unforeseen circumstances pursuant to Section 6:258 of the Dutch Civil Code.

In this article Lidewij van Egteren addresses the question whether the doctrine of unforeseen circumstances offers solace in the current corona crisis.