Half of rental agents willing to exclude foreign tenants: study

Almost half of rental agents contacted for a government-commissioned study were willing to discriminate against potential tenants with foreign roots, researchers have found.

The study, conducted by the Verwey-Jonker Institute, used actors posing as landlords to phone rental agents and ask them if they could avoid renting to “foreigners; Moroccans, Turks or Poles”.

They found that 97 out of 200 agreed outright with the request. Another 30% didn’t refuse, mostly saying it was up to the landlord, and only 20% said no.

“Expat” privileges

In 36 of the cases, agents distinguished “expats” as good foreign tenants, describing them as highly educated and well paid, with reliable employers. Some also said they tend to leave after a while, which they presented as a way around the 2024 ban on most temporary leases.

“Let me put your mind at rest, neither do we,” one agent told an actor who said they did not have a good feeling about foreigners. “The foreigners we usually talk about are the expats, who just come here to work for the big companies.”

Another said: “Officially we’re not allowed to discriminate, of course, but if you say you don’t want people from certain types of countries, I don’t need to put them forward to you.”

Moroccan-sounding names 

In separate tests on 1,662 listings on the rental site Pararius between December and May, applicants with Moroccan-sounding names were invited to viewings less often than otherwise identical applicants with Dutch-sounding names.

For men, there were 14% of cases where only the Dutch-named applicant got an invitation, and 16% for women. Last year’s monitor found no significant discrimination against any group for the first time. The researchers found none this year against Polish-sounding names or same-sex couples.

Findings of the investigations were sent to MPs on Wednesday.