Home owners lobby group VEH is warning house buyers taking out 30-year mortgages they may not benefit from record low interest rates for the entire duration of the mortgage, broadcaster NOS said on Tuesday.

Half of all home buyers now take out mortgages with a fixed interest rate for 20 or 30 years. But some will be disappointed if they want to switch their mortgage to a new property, the VEH says.

People move on average every seven years. But many banks and mortgage providers include small print in their contracts saying the guaranteed low interest rate will change if the buyer moves to a new home.

ING, Hypotrust and bijBouwe, for example, don’t allow people to transfer their existing mortgages to a new property if it is more expensive than the limit for the national mortgage guarantee – currently € 247,450. And Delta Lloyd will change the interest rate if the home buyer switches from an interest-only to a repayment mortgage.

The VEH says banks are misleading their clients by not making these clauses more explicit.

‘Home buyers who move will have to pay the current interest rate which could be higher,’ the lobby group said. ‘If they had known this would happen, they might have opted for a shorter fixed interest period, and would have been better off doing so.’