Municipality to enforce regulations on the sale of individual rooms

The municipality's decision to enforce the law has consequences for those currently living in rooms that they bought, while the rest of the house belongs to someone else. The municipality demands (link in Dutch, Ed.) that they undo the division of the property.

The councillor Dennis de Vries, who is involved in the matter, explains: "Of course, we would prefer to take action against the sellers who engage in such practices. They know better than anyone that this is not allowed, yet they are burdening the buyers with problems."

"Unfortunately," adds De Vries' spokesperson Marloes Konings, "it is not legally possible for the municipality to do that. Only the current owners can undo the violation. For example, by jointly buying or selling the entire property."

Under slight coercion
The municipality will therefore require the current residents of such rooms to devise a suitable solution. "As a municipality, we will impose a fine for this. This is how we will demand that the situation be rectified," says Konings.

"An order subject to a penalty is a remedial sanction, an administrative measure taken by the government to persuade a citizen or company to remedy an illegal situation or prevent it from occurring," she explains. "The offender is given an order to do something within a certain period of time. If this does not happen, a fine must be paid, which is an incentive to remedy the violation."

Buyers can go to court to hold the seller of the room liable.

Rooms for sale
Rooms have been offered for sale for more than ten years. DUB wrote an article about it in 2007 (available in Dutch only, Efd.). Now, the municipality will finally enforce the law. What took it so long? "We have seen an increase in the sale of individual rooms in recent years," answers the municipality, which argues that rooms for sale are not in line with Utrecht's ambition of “unequal investment for equal opportunities”.

"If the rooms are sold separately, there is no maximum price. The seller can ask whatever they want. Often, mortgages cannot be obtained for such rooms, which means that the properties can only be purchased by people who can pay 100,000 to 200,000 euros up front."

This makes the market unfair for other students. Renting is much fairer. "And the Affordable Rent Act prevents landlords from charging excessive rents."

"In addition, we have received more complaints and reports from residents about the purchase structure. That is why we now want to protect future buyers." This factor, alongside the unequal nature of these sales, prompted the municipality to take action.

Rooms still for sale
Several such rooms are on sale on the property websites Funda and Studentenkamerkopen. "Advertising on Funda is not a violation, but it is undesirable. It is only a violation if the property is sold or purchased in this way."

They cannot prevent the sale entirely. However, the municipality assumes that the fine will have a preventive effect, making buyers think twice about buying a room. After all, if they do buy it, they will end up in an "illegal living situation" that they will have to resolve themselves.