Tighten landlord restrictions: D66

New homeowners still have to pay 'key money', a kind of extra levy to be allowed inside, by some landlords. Asking for this has been disallowed for some time now, but it is still being done. 

The D66 is proposing that such landlords must be controlled more strictly. D66 MP Kees Verhoeven brought this up during a debate about the housing market on Wednesday.

"It isn't crazy that it does happen so often. There is actually no real punishment for it", Verhoeven states. A landlord who asks for this key money now only runs the risk of having to pay that money back, he explains. "For my part, minister Stef Blok and his colleague Ivo Opstelten will work towards serious cash fines."

The D66 is positing that landlords use this key money to cash in on the lack of space in the housing market. People are usually eager to keep a home, and would have to go to the judge to ask for the money back, which is quite an undertaking.

Verhoeven is thinking of a system of fines or compensation to increase the risks for landlords using illegal practices.