Earlier today, the Dutch House of Representatives (de Tweede Kamer) has voted in favour of the draft bill on “court sanctioning private composition to avoid bankruptcy” (de Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord ter voorkoming van faillissement, the WHOA), together with certain amendments.

This is great news: the WHOA is an effective restructuring tool that is likely to become widely used both in local and cross border restructurings. Especially in light of COVID-19, this is a welcome extra tool for enterprises in distress to avoid bankruptcy.

A mortgage bank has the power to foreclose and sell the collateral if the debtor is in default. However, this power does not apply in full. There is a risk of abuse of power in this respect. The circumstances, motives and actions of the parties play a major role in this. In this situation, the interests of the mortgage bank and the debtor are diametrically opposed. The mortgage bank has an interest in claiming the outstanding claim and the debtor has an interest in maintaining his immovable property.