Netherlands Property Ownership

Titles, deeds and mortgages are recorded in the Title and Mortgage register. There are no restrictions for foreigners.

Netherlands Transaction Information

Open listings for agents are: Available.
Exclusive listings for agents are: Not available.

Netherlands Trade Associations

Nederlandse Vereninging Van Makelaars in Onroerende Goedren (Dutch Association of Real Estate Agents)
Address: Fakkelstede 1, Postbus 2222, 3430 DC Nieowegeun, The Netherlands.
Phone: 31 3402-85170
Fax: 31 3402-35468

Nederlandse Vereniging van Makelaars in o.g. en vastgoeddeskundigen (NVM)
P.O. Box 2222
Nieuwegein
NL-3430 DC
Netherlands

Phone : +31 30 608 5185
Fax : +31 30 603 4003
e-mail : info@nvm.nl
Web : www.nvm.nl

The Dutch Association of Real Estate Brokers NVM (Nederlandse Vereniging van Makelaars) is the foremost professional real estate association in the Netherlands. With a membership of over 3,500 NVM covers some 60% of the total Dutch property market. The association has four divisions : NVM Residential Real Estate, NVM Commercial Real Estate, NVM Agrarian Real estate and NVM Property Management, and All NVM-members are certified and registered according to national professional criteria.

Nederlandse Vereniging Van Rentmeesters (NVR)
Agro Business Park 10
Postbus 222
Wageningen
NL-6700 AE
Netherlands

Phone : +31 317 415030
Fax : +31 317 421091
e-mail : info@rentmeesternvr.nl
Web : www.rentmeesternvr.nl

The Dutch Society of Estate and Property Managers (NVR) was founded in 1904 with the aim of promoting the property management profession in the Netherlands. The NVR offers a variety of services to its 450 members including further education and certification, a code of ethics and an arbitration service. Its members are involved in many aspects of the real estate market including estate management, legal counsel and consultancy.

Netherlands Forms of Ownership

Two forms of corporations: N.V. (naamloze vennotschap-public company) and B.V. (besloten vennootschap met beperke aansprakelijkheid-private company with limited liability). Partnership, corporations and private persons can hold title.

Netherlands Real Estate Info Summary

It is mandatory to hire a notary to perform the registration process in the Netherlands.
(1) Before the notarial deed is executed the Dutch civil law notary involved has to consult the Land Registry Office in order to do the notarial title search.

Civil law notaries can consult the land register of the Land Registry Office by an on-line system, called the Automatic Cadastral Registration (AKR). They can conduct the online research only regarding some aspects. The deeds and other registered documents from 1998 onwards are online accessible. Older deeds and documents are scanned on demand and are sent immediately by email. Extracts from the cadastral map showing the relevant properties are also available online. To obtain all relevant information takes a few minutes.

The time needed for the notarial check of the contents of the registered deeds and other documents depends on the number of involved deeds and documents, the contents thereof and if the cadastral numbers mentioned in those deeds of documents are the same as the current numbers. A notary can ask the Land Registry Office to find out the history and numbers of a parcel. If a cadastral parcel has been changed (e.g. a parcel is divided in 2 new parcels), the parcel will be given a new, unique parcel number.
In a standard case, the title search can be done during one day.
(2) Regarding companies the civil law notary must conduct an on-line research with the Trade Register regarding some aspects. The articles of association can not be checked on-line. The notary can get these sent to him by mail or fax. This takes often no longer than 1 day.
(3) The notary then drafts the deed of transfer. The notarial fees are not stipulated by law anymore. It is now a free market. Some civil law notaries charge by the hours of work they spend on the case, others charge as a percentage on the value of the property. For a normal transfer with Dutch parties and no extra aspects it will be about EUR 2,500 to 3,500, exclusive of VAT.

(4) Final check for liens before executing the deed. This takes about 10 minutes before execution of the deed of transfer (World Bank Group, 2005).

a. The public notary executes the transfer deed online. The authorized persons will either have to appear before the notary or must have granted power of attorney.

Registration tax and transfer tax are paid to the notary, who will pay to the tax authorities after registration. The transfer tax is 6% from the total purchase price or the market value if that is higher.
Please note that also, or instead of transfer tax, sometimes VAT is applicable. It is 19% regarding property. This depends, among other issues, on the status of the property and if the seller is a VAT-entrepreneur.

Moreover, the purchaser has to pay a stamp duty which is EUR 3 per deed. The transfer tax and stamp duty are paid by the civil law notary to the Tax Authorities. Each notarial deed has to be registered within 10 days with the Tax Authority which checks the deed for taxable aspects. They do not keep a copy but give a statement that the deed involved is checked on a certain date. The deed itself is then returned with that statement to the civil law notary.

b. An official copy of the deed is then registered at the relevant Land Registry Office, online. The registration of the true digital copy of the deed takes place immediately after the execution by submitting the deed to the Land Registry by internet. The notary will receive a receipt from the internet within a few minutes of providing evidence of registration. An adaptation of the Cadastre Act making this an official procedure is endorsed by the Parliament per 1 February 2005.
The registration fee of the Land Registry depends on the kind of deed or document registered. Regarding a deed of transfer it depends on the number of cadastral parcels and purchasers involved. It therefore does not depend on the value of the property. For example, the registration fee for a deed of transfer of a property that forms 1 cadastral parcel to 1 new owner costs EUR 75.94. The registration fee is paid to the Land Registry Office.

c. After the deed has been registered at the Land Registry Office, a civil law notary must carry out the post registration check in order to detect any potential change between the execution and the registration of the deed. As the evidence of the registration is sent by internet, just after the electronic submission following execution of the transfer deed, this check can be done immediately, reducing the time to a few minutes.

An offer is accepted at the moment that a person could reasonably be expected to take note of acceptance.

Property Taxes:

The property tax is 0.8%. Capital gains are not taxed unless they are a part of business or professional income.

Netherlands Mortgages & Financing

Mainly reflecting mortgage lending growth, the household debt to GDP ratio for the Netherlands has grown to over 100 percent of GDP in 2002 and although the same trend is seen in many other EU
countries, the level in the Netherlands is considerably higher than the EU average of about
50 percent.2 Several factors seem to have supported the rapid growth in mortgages, not least
extensive tax deductibility of interest, as well as a government guarantee of a significant
number of mortgages. Over the last couple of years, the authorities have moved to
narrow the scope of interest deductibility, and this probably contributed somewhat to the
recent slowdown in mortgage lending and house prices (IMF Country Report, 2004).

Over the past decade the amount of mortgage debt in the Netherlands has roughly doubled as a share of
GDP. At the same time, it has become common to finance all expenses related to the home purchase, including transaction costs, through the mortgage loan. Consequently, LTV-ratios for new loans have risen sharply, reaching 108 percent on average in 2003 (excluding refinancing and second mortgages). Dutch mortgage loans typically have a maturity of 30 years and interest rates are normally fixed for considerable periods of time (mostly 5 or 10 years). Around one quarter of mortgages is covered by a government sponsored ‘national mortgage guarantee plan’ that basically eliminates the default risk for the lender and allows the borrower to secure a lower borrowing cost.

Tax deductibility of mortgage interest payments has contributed to recent increases in property prices
and, in particular, to the simultaneous expansion and increasing complexity of the mortgage market.
The tax deductibility encourages purely tax-driven financing choices and provide a disincentive for
principal repayments prior to maturity. Therefore, financing arrangements that keep debt and interest
payments at the maximum level during the life time of the loan have become increasingly popular. A recent
survey by the Nederlandsche Bank shows that only about 8 percent of total mortgage debt outstanding is
financed through traditional linear or annuity loans— and that percentage is considerably lower for new
loans.