“I was furious, although I knew that there wasn’t much choice in Leiden”, recalls Jacky Hicks, a researcher at the Royal Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV). A year ago, an estate agent helped her find a place to rent and then charged a substantial sum for agency fees. Hicks paid up so that she at least had a roof over her head.
“It happens very, very often”, agrees Julian Kramer, head of housing at Leiden’s legal advice centre. “Every week, I speak to tenants who want to know whether those fees are fair.”
Hicks called the legal advice centre too. “They told me that you can’t get the agency fees back. But I grumbled about it to friends too, and someone said: oh yes you can. Accordingly, she sent letters to the estate agent. “He ignored them. The Legal Service Counter put me in touch with a lawyer.” It took a year, but the lawyer succeeded: the agency fees were repaid to Hicks earlier this month.
Agency fees are not permitted if the accommodation is independent, i.e. it has a separate front door and its own facilities. That is to say: an agency may not charge both the tenant and the landlord for brokering services, although it has not stopped them charging fees to Hicks and many other tenants. If an estate agent is working for a future occupant only, he may charge a fee. Kramer explains the legal advice centre’s negative recommendation. “It’s difficult. Tenants are usually within their rights but to enforce those rights costs money. Often, the legal fees outweigh the results. We try to advise on the best course.”
The law does not apply to rooms, but there is a bill afoot to equalise their position. Back in 1990, it was feared that landlords letting rooms and their potential tenants would not meet if no one brokered for both parties. Internet has done away with those worries, as the bill explains. It goes on to say: “Secondly, there are complaints about excessive fees for brokerage that should be taken seriously”. The Minister for Housing, Stef Blok, wanted propose the bill this year but his spokesman Richard Gielen claims there has been some delay: “The bill will probably be proposed in the spring of 2015 once it has been debated by the Cabinet and has been submitted to the Council of State. Then Parliament will debate it.” The Netherlands Association of Real Estate Brokers and Real Estate Experts (NVM) is pleased with the bill and a large number of estate agents, including Nederwoon, Rots Vast and Direct Wonen, have promised to stop charging agency fees as of 1 January 2015.
Starting this year, Leiden Council has made attempts to combat the unreasonable fees by making it mandatory for housing agencies to be licensed, for which they must meet certain quality standards.
Alderman Paul Laudy points out that enforcing the new rules is difficult for now. “There are formal rules, but they’re not terribly usefull in practice. We kind of expected that, when we introduced the new rule”, he admits.
Hicks thinks that the relationship with her landlord was not damaged by the problem. “Although, in court, he made a statement in favour of the estate agent. Ironically, he wants to sell the house now, so I have to get to grips with the system again to find somewhere else.” MvW.