Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Medemblik
Medemblik - Credit: Ben Bender / Wikimedia Commons - License: CC-BY-SA
Business
Medemblik
migrant worker
Racism
discrimination
Westereiland
Match Makelaars
Dennis Stello
Thursday, 18 November 2021 - 12:40
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Ire over rental listing’s no foreigners claim

An "unfortunately worded" rental listing made the Dutch municipality of Medemblik go viral online. In a listing for a house, rental agent Match Makelaars said that the city "does not like foreigners" and has an "anti-migrant policy." The municipality is furious about the "racist" ad, which was removed after all the fuss. The municipality is taking legal action, a spokesperson said to AD.

The listing is for a five-room house on Westereiland in Medemblik. Match Makelaars rents it out on behalf of the owner. In the ad, which was placed on various sites two weeks ago, the brokers wrote: "The municipality of Medemblik does not like foreigners, so, unfortunately, you cannot live here. There is an anti-migrant policy." The ad was widely shared online.

The municipality of Medemblik is furious about the "racist" text, a spokesperson said to the newspaper. "We distance ourselves from this discriminatory and hurtful reporting and are taking legal action. We have no influence on what a broker puts in an advertisement." The municipality says it fully embraces migrant workers and recently drew up policies stating under which conditions labor migrants can settle in Medemblik.

Match Makelaars said that the ad was a reaction to the municipal policy. For the past seven months, three British migrant workers and a Dutchman lived in the house. But they had to move out under threat of penalty because the municipality said the zoning plan only allows one household to live in the house, Dennis Stello of Match Makelaars said to the newspaper.

The broker realizes that the ad may have been "unfortunately worded." But it's in how you interpret the word "migrant," Stello said. "A refugee from Syria or a white Englishman who works here for a company. They are foreigners. How else should we have described this?" he said. "We are not racist at all. But how do we deal with the housing of migrant workers in the Netherlands?"

According to Stello, the house is now "as good as" rented out and not to migrant workers. "And I am not at all afraid of legal action from the municipality."

Wij herkennen ons niet in deze uitspraak @overlistener. Arbeidsmigranten zijn van harte welkom volgens het beleid wat we daarvoor opstelden: https://t.co/V7I2h1VqiP

— Gemeente Medemblik (@GemMedemblik) November 17, 2021

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Bonaire residents feel forgotten by Dutch politics regarding climate change problems
  • 200 people arrested at Extinction Rebellion protest, A12 is empty again
  • Dutch economy in good shape: Retains top credit rating from Moody’s
  • Rutte expects European migration measures to take effect from March
  • Provincial council members to earn significantly more after elections in March
  • Police intervenes Extinction Rebellion protest on A12; Dozens of people arrested

Top stories

  • Police intervenes Extinction Rebellion protest on A12; Dozens of people arrested
  • Rutte lashes out at left wing parties in election campaign interview
  • Netherlands and the US agree on export restriction of ASML chip machines
  • Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists block the A12 in The Hague
  • Eneco is significantly lowering energy rates, but still above the price ceiling
  • Millions of computer chips from Dutch manufacturers wound up in Russia: Report

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

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content