You make sure clients pay on time by agreeing payment in advance and keeping the moment of payment as short as possible. With private clients that means payment on completion, by card or payment link. With businesses and installation companies you agree a short term and invoice often. If someone still does not pay, the law determines which steps you take and what you can charge.
In short
- Have private clients pay on completion. A surcharge for card payments or a regular credit card is not allowed.
- For a charging point or home battery that you supply and install, you can ask for at most half in advance. If you closed the deal at the client's home, you cannot demand payment during the cooling-off period.
- A business that pays late owes at least €40 in costs and commercial interest of 10.4%. A private client only after a fourteen-day letter, and the statutory interest is 4%.
In this article
- How do you make sure a private client pays straight away?
- Can you charge a surcharge for card or credit card payments?
- Can you ask for a deposit?
- Which payment term applies to business clients?
- What do you do if a private client does not pay?
- How much interest and costs can you charge for late payment?
- How do you prevent an installation company from paying you late?
How do you make sure a private client pays straight away?
Agree in the quote that the client pays on completion, and then have him pay straight away by card or payment link. Show the work order and the test report on completion, so the client sees what he is getting. Send the invoice the same day. That way no invoice is left outstanding.
On a large job, such as a consumer unit or a charging point, do not start talking about payment only at completion. State the payment method in the quote and mention it on the phone. A payment link the client expects in advance does not feel like pressure. A card terminal that appears unexpectedly on the table does.
Can you charge a surcharge for card or credit card payments?
No. You may not charge a surcharge to a private client who pays by debit card, with a regular credit card or by bank transfer. The law prohibits a fee for payment cards and credit cards covered by the European rules on interchange fees, and for European credit transfers and direct debits (article 7:520(4) of the Dutch Civil Code).
The ACM (the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets) explicitly names card payments, cash payments and bank transfers as payments for which you may not pass on costs. This also applies to credit cards with an intermediary, such as Visa and Mastercard. Only for cards without an intermediary, such as American Express, and for business cards may you charge transaction costs (ACM).
So include the costs of your card terminal and payment links in your rate, as normal business costs. A client who sees an unexpected surcharge on completion is less willing to pay, and you are not allowed to charge it anyway.
Can you ask for a deposit?
Yes, but within limits. If you concluded the agreement at the client's home, you can only demand payment once the cooling-off period is over (article 6:230t(5) of the Dutch Civil Code). And if you supply a charging point or home battery, a private client can be required to pay at most half the price in advance.
Whether there is a cooling-off period depends on where the client signs. If you come round for an assessment and the client agrees later, there is no cooling-off period. If the client signs straight away at home, he has a 14-day cooling-off period (ConsuWijzer). For an urgent job for which the client called you himself, there is no cooling-off period, except for extra work he did not ask for (article 6:230p(b) of the Dutch Civil Code).
The limit of half comes from the rules for consumer sales: in a sale, a private client can be required to pay in advance at most half of the purchase price (article 7:26(2) of the Dutch Civil Code). If you supply and install a charging point or battery, the rules for sale and for contracts for work apply side by side, and in case of conflict the sales rules prevail (article 7:5(4) of the Dutch Civil Code). The sub-district court in Breda treated the supply and installation of a home battery as a consumer sale (District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, 2025).
More than half is only allowed if the client agrees it with you himself. If you put it in your general terms and conditions, that clause is considered unreasonably onerous (article 7:6(2) of the Dutch Civil Code). For work only, without supplying a device, the law sets no maximum for a deposit (ConsuWijzer). Ask for a deposit mainly when you have to order an expensive device. That way you do not pay for it upfront yourself.
Which payment term applies to business clients?
If you have agreed nothing with a business, it must pay within 30 days of receiving the invoice. After that, interest is due without any further step. Together you can agree a term of at most 60 days. Longer is only allowed if it is expressly stated in the agreement and is not clearly unfair to you (article 6:119a of the Dutch Civil Code).
Small businesses have extra protection. If your client is a large company (a legal entity that does not count as small) and you are a small business or self-employed, the agreed term may not exceed 30 days. A longer term in the contract is void (article 6:119a(6) of the Dutch Civil Code). An installation company that puts 60 days in its purchasing terms then cannot rely on that against you.
Shorter terms genuinely help small businesses. When France legally limited payment terms in road haulage, the probability of a haulier going bankrupt fell by 25%. The effect lasted and was concentrated among firms with little cash (Barrot, 2016). That research concerned French hauliers, not installers, but it shows how heavily a long term weighs on a small business.
What do you do if a private client does not pay?
First a friendly reminder, then a phone call, and then a fourteen-day letter. With a private client you can only charge collection costs once you send him a reminder after the due date with a 14-day period, starting on the day after the reminder. In that letter you also state the costs that will follow if he does not pay (article 6:96(6) of the Dutch Civil Code).
The level of collection costs is set by a fixed scale. You charge 15% on the first €2,500, 10% on the next €2,500 and 5% on the next €5,000, with a minimum of €40 (Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs, article 2). With a private client you may not deviate from this to his disadvantage. VAT is only added if you cannot reclaim the VAT on the collection costs yourself and state this.
If you call in a collection agency, choose one that is listed in the Justis register. Since 1 October 2026, someone with an outstanding debt does not have to pay collection costs if the collection agency is not registered. The debt itself does remain (Rijksoverheid, 2026).
How much interest and costs can you charge for late payment?
With a private client it is the statutory interest, 4% since 1 January 2026. With a business it is the commercial interest, 10.4% since 1 July 2026 (Rijksoverheid). The commercial interest rate is set again every six months. The rate as of 1 January 2027 is not yet known.
Interest is per year, so the amount seems small. A private client who pays an invoice of €1,718.20 sixty days late owes about €11.30 in statutory interest. A business that pays €5,000 sixty days late owes about €85.48 in commercial interest. The interest is mainly a signal that you take your agreements seriously.
With a business you do not have to wait for the costs. A business that pays late owes at least €40 in collection costs from the day after the due date, without a reminder. That minimum cannot be changed to your disadvantage (article 6:96(4) of the Dutch Civil Code). So with a business a fourteen-day letter is not needed to charge costs.
How do you prevent an installation company from paying you late?
Agree a short term, invoice weekly or per completed part, and charge the interest and costs you are entitled to. Also do not work for one installation company for more than half of your turnover. That way a late payment by one client does not become a problem for your whole business.
Late payment is a well-known problem for small businesses. In a British survey of 211 small manufacturing firms, 59.5% called late payment an important or very important problem. At the same time, 89% said they paid their own suppliers late to a greater or lesser extent (Peel, Wilson & Howorth, 2000). In this way late payment passes down the chain.
Businesses that are paid late themselves are more likely to pay late. That emerged from research into British small firms that habitually pay late. Those firms also more often had difficulty obtaining bank finance. They knew the procedures of their regular suppliers and used that knowledge to pay late without a penalty (Howorth & Reber, 2003). The researchers point out that many firms do not use their statutory right to interest.
For you as a subcontractor this means: a client who notices that you never charge interest or costs moves you to the back of the queue. So with every late invoice, send a short notice stating the interest and the €40 that are due. You do not always have to collect them, but you show that you know the rules. Agree 14 days in your quote or framework agreement. With a large installation company the term may not exceed 30 days anyway.
Sources
- Barrot, J.-N. (2016). Trade credit and industry dynamics: evidence from trucking firms. The Journal of Finance, 71(5), 1975-2016. doi.org
- Peel, M.J., Wilson, N. & Howorth, C. (2000). Late payment and credit management in the small firm sector: some empirical evidence. International Small Business Journal, 18(2), 17-37. doi.org
- Howorth, C. & Reber, B. (2003). Habitual late payment of trade credit: an empirical examination of UK small firms. Managerial and Decision Economics, 24(6-7), 471-482. doi.org
- Dutch Civil Code Book 6, articles 96, 119a, 230p and 230t, in force from 16 July 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Dutch Civil Code Book 7, articles 5, 6, 26 and 520, in force from 8 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs, article 2, in force from 1 October 2024. wetten.overheid.nl
- District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, 17 December 2025, ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2025:9522. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- Rijksoverheid, Hoe hoog is de wettelijke rente? (How high is the statutory interest?), accessed 24 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- Rijksoverheid, Geen incassokosten bij niet-geregistreerde incassodienstverlener (No collection costs with an unregistered collection agency), 21 September 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- ACM, Betaalmogelijkheden aanbieden (offering payment methods), accessed 24 October 2026. acm.nl
- ConsuWijzer (ACM), Klus, opleiding of opdracht annuleren (cancelling a job, course or assignment), accessed 24 October 2026. consument.acm.nl
- ConsuWijzer (ACM), Wat zijn mijn rechten bij een aanbetaling? (What are my rights with a deposit?), accessed 24 October 2026. consument.acm.nl