DutchNews.nl - The Hague to give €5,000 to tenants who buy their own home

The Hague to give €5,000 to tenants who buy their own home

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Some people living in rent-controlled homes in The Hague will soon be eligible for a €5,000 bonus if they buy their own home, under city council plans launched on Wednesday.

Buyers will also get a four-month interest payment holiday and a €10,000 grant to buy a newly-built property, the Financieele Dagblad says.

However, there are conditions, the paper says. For example, only households earning more than €43,000 qualify and the home they leave behind must have at least five rooms.

The paper says the council has set aside €3m to help social housing tenants get a foot on the property ladder. It hopes the scheme will encourage more people to buy a house, freeing up much-need rent-controlled properties for new families.

Sales

Meanwhile, BNR radio reports a sharp increase in the number of people being forced to sell their homes because they can no longer afford to meet the payment terms.

In 2011, there were 2,811 forced sales, compared with 2,086 in 2010.

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Readers' comments

Why not just force them out if they're making so much money!?! They can clearly afford the over-inflated private rent market. Why only get them out if they agree to buy a house? And what kind of rent-controlled house has FIVE rooms!?!? Or do the kitchen, the livingroom and the bathroom count as rooms? If so, weird.

By Stupid | January 18, 2012 6:47 PM

sounds interesting but I sure hope this isn't yet another brilliant plan from our government to simply saddle more people with a huge debt that they actually cannot afford or pay off.
also all the bonus payments and interest payment holidays in the world will never make up for a rapidly sinking housing market - duh. perhaps we should sort that out first, before saddling even more people with debt.

By Bill | January 18, 2012 7:13 PM

5 grand is nothing in the face of the decline in home prices coming to Holland.

By Kevin | January 18, 2012 7:52 PM

@"stupid", in the Dutch real estate market, "kamer" refers to each space of a house. So you have badKAMER, woonKAMER, slaapKAMER... a "5-room house" might be one with 2 bathroom, 2 bedrooms and one integrated kitchen+living room, e.g., a normal middle class house.

They are just trying to preclude, for instance, students who stayed in studios after they graduated due to some law loopholes to buy the place for them, which is a fair provision.

By Andre L. | January 18, 2012 9:52 PM

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