Home buyers file nearly 1,000 complaints over unfair bidding

House hunters in the Netherlands are still being pressured to raise their offers and kept in the dark about rival bids, according to almost 1,000 complaints logged since February by home owners’ association Vereniging Eigen Huis (VEH).

The association’s complaints hotline, which it reopened in February after a five-year gap, received 921 reports from buyers and sellers by early July, broadcaster NOS reported.

Buyers describe being pushed towards higher offers after being warned about competing bids that later could not be found in the official log, and winning bids being entered after the deadline or by the agent.

One buyer told NOS he was urged to add €10,000 to a €265,000 offer to secure a house, then found no higher bid recorded afterwards.

VEH says voluntary industry guidelines have failed to protect consumers. It found in May that most buyers experience unfair bidding. It wants the buying process written into law to improve transparency.

Buyers and sellers must be able to trust that the process is fair and verifiable, said VEH director Cindy Kremer, which is why statutory rules are needed “with supervision and enforcement, so breaches actually carry consequences”.

The government has promised action but not yet delivered anything concrete. Housing minister Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan signalled in the spring that she would put regulatory options to parliament over the summer – plans which have yet to appear.

The estate agents’ associations are not resisting changes. The largest, NVM, said the reopened hotline could be useful but defended its own bidding protocol. Rival body Vastgoed Nederland said it was for the government to set firm rules.

PVV MP Jeremy Mooiman is drafting a private member’s bill to set a statutory standard for all agents.