Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Sold sign
Sold sign - Credit: Photo: ArturVerkhovetskiy/DepositPhotos
Business
housing market
owner-occupied homes
self-occupancy obligation
Monday, 10 August 2020 - 09:11
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Cities shun investors forcing property buyers to live in owned homes

A growing number of municipalities in the Netherlands are obliging buyers to live in the home they bought, in an effort to keep home prices affordable by making rentals impossible and thereby pushing investors out of the housing market. A group of almost 20 municipalities introduced this so-called self-occupancy obligation in the past year and more are considering it, Financieele Dagblad reports based on its own research.

Many municipalities already made use of the anti-speculation clause, which prohibits the rapid resale of owner-occupied homes. Student cities like Groningen, The Hague, and Leiden restricted turning homes into single rooms to rent. The self-occupancy obligation is the newest measure to keep owner-occupied homes on the market at a reasonable price.

A total of 18 municipalities recently implemented this obligation, ranging from large cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht to smaller municipalities like Bernheze, Nieuwkkoop and Bergeijk. A handful of other places like Wijchen and Barneveld are considering the measure. And municipal councils in Brielle and Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, among others, have instructed their mayor and aldermen to look into it, according to the newspaper.

The way in which this measure is implemented differs. In Zwolle, for example, it applies to all newly built homes for a period of five years. Other municipalities are focused on specific parts of the market. Nuenen is introducing the self-occupancy obligation on homes under 200 thousand euros, Teylingen on homes up to 250 thousand euros, and Haarlem in homes up to 383,358 euros.

"With the self-occupancy obligation, we want to give starters and people with a lower or middle income more opportunities on the housing market," a spokesperson fo the municipality of Teylingen said to the newspaper.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Nine people injured after brawl on Bloemendaal beach
  • Dutch people hardly prepared for their old age, survey shows
  • Higher bonus for municipalities that quickly provide places for asylum seekers
  • King Willem-Alexander will give speech on slavery commemoration, apology to be expected
  • A12 Blockade: Police begin to transport XR demonstrators away in buses, hundreds arrested
  • New record number of complaints from Dutch secondary students during final exams

Top stories

  • King Willem-Alexander will give speech on slavery commemoration, apology to be expected
  • Explosion at apartment in Rotterdam, no one injured
  • XR climate activists want to block A12 in The Hague, about 3000 protesters expected
  • One injured and two missing after boat accident on the Meuse river
  • Rutte refuses to guarantee that asylum seekers will not have to sleep outdoors
  • 360 children disappeared from Dutch asylum shelters

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content