Consumer situation in the market

• Author: Schmid, Christoph U.; Pinkel, Tobias
• Pages: 54-55

Consum er mar ket stud y on the fun ctio ning of the r eal estate servi ces for consum ers in the EU – Coun try Fiche Th e Net herlan ds

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11. Consum er situation in th e mar ket

11.1 Consum er right s

Ta ble 26: Co nsu me r r igh ts

Ar e t he re specif ic con sum er ri ght s in

th e con text of re al est ate tra nsa cti ons

an d r esi den tial te nancie s in yo ur

cou nt ry?

I n pa rticular : a re r esid ent ial te na nts

tre at ed as consum e r s?

Wit h r espect to buy ers

Special consum er right s do not ex ist in th is cont ext .

Wit h r espect to selle rs

Special consum er right s do not ex ist in th is cont ext .

Wit h r espect to ten ants

Generall y, there is a h igh leve l of t enan t p rot ection for re sidenti al t enant s,

but no sp ecifi c consu mer pr otect ion rules a pply .

Wit h r espect to land lord s

Special consum er right s do not ex ist in th is cont ext .

I f rel eva nt , w hi ch e xistin g m ar ketin g

pr act ice s are no n-co mplian t w ith

na tion al consum er le gis lat ion ?

No such practi ces are k nown

I f rel eva nt , w hi ch e xistin g m ar ketin g

pr act ice s are no n-co mp liant w it h EU

con sum er le gisl ation ?

No such practi ces are k nown

Ar e t he re exist ing m arke ti ng

pr act ices detr im enta l t o co nsu me rs,

ev en if not ne cessari ly ille gal , in bo th

do me stic an d cr oss- bord er

tr a nsactions?

No, th ere are not ma ny repo rts of com pla ins aga inst pr ofessi onal serv ice prov ider s in the Neth erlands. This

holds t rue f or bot h, n otari es an d real estat e ag ents. Precise inf orm ati on i s, h owev er, not av ailable.

Desp ite th e ra ther elevat ed l evel of qu alit y of no tar ies i n t he Ne therl ands, after t he d ereg ulat ion of the

not ary syst em, a w ide discussion abo ut th e effect of t he n ew der egul ation on the qual ity of th e ser vices of

nota ries start ed. So me cases of fraud and ban kru ptcy to the dam age of consum ers h ave been observ ed a nd

lar gely debat ed. How ever , i t is n ot clear to w hich ext ent thes e exception al cases m ay be l inked to the

der egulato ry m easur es. In general, sev eral th eoreti cal and em pirical stud ies t ried to exam ine how th e

quality dev eloped, com ing part ly to tot ally opp osing resu lts. 72

72 St udi es sug gest ing t hat th e der egul atio n w as a s uccess e .g. Comm issie Evalu atie Wet op h et nota risam bt (200 5) .

For stud ies t hat sugg ests tha t t he de regu lati on l ed t o a d ecrea se in qual ity cf. Kuij per s/ Noaill ye/Voll aar d ( 200 5); Nahui s/ Noa illy ( 20 05 ).

For discu ssion in t he l iter atu re se e e.g . Plaggem ar s ( 2011 ), 315 et seq., wh o is very cri tical abou t t he r efor m a nd Va n de n Ber gh/ Mon tang ie (2 006 ), Journ al of Comp arat ive Law a nd Eco nom ics,

28 9 at 20 3 et seq. who are also v ery crit ical .