Zwolle notary caught buying real estate against the rules: report

In principle, notaries are not allowed to invest in real estate. Despite this, Peter Fijn, the head of the largest notary office in the Netherlands, Het Notariaeel, has bought quite a few properties in recent years. He concealed these purchases using constructions with companies affiliated to him, NRC reports.

According to the newspaper, Fijn has bought at least 11 properties in this way. Het Notarieel’s co-founder and fellow notary Dick Timmerman has also bought several. The required notarial deeds were done through their own office - Het Notarieel, which opened in 2006 and is now the largest notary office in the Netherlands with around 200 employees, 13 notaries, and branches in nine cities.

The Notary Office Act prohibits notaries from investing in real estate. As independent intermediaries, notaries fulfill a pivotal role in economic and social transactions. Home purchases, mortgage dees, and cohabitation contracts, among other things, all go through a notary. That gives them confidential information about the situation of the local real estate market and their clients. The ban on investing in real estate is meant to guarantee notaries’ independence and impartiality. In principle, they’re also not allowed to invest in shares.

Notaries themselves are less than thrilled with the ban. The high-earning notaries experience it as a straitjacket. Basically, the only thing a notary can do with their money is put it in a savings account, Peter Fijn told NRC in an interview at Het Notarieel’s head office in Zwolle. Elsbeth Zijlstra and Lotte van der Ploeg, both partners in Het Notarieel, are also against the strict investment ban. According to them, the regulations make the notary profession less attractive, and the profession is already facing staff shortages due to aging.

They’d like to be able to invest in real estate, but with rules to guarantee their impartiality, Zijlstra and Van der Ploeg told NRC. “I wouldn’t buy anything from your own client, not in the city where you work. That kind of thing,” Zijlstra said.

When NRC pointed out that Fijn has done exactly that, the man himself said that he would “rather not talk about this” because “I don’t see the added value of that at all.” Fijn said he acted within the legal rules with his real estate holdings. “Yes, and it is not really mine either.” According to him, the properties belong to the family. He refused to provide further explanation and then said that he invests as much of his money as possible in the office buildings of Het Notarieel.

According to the newspaper, it was agreed that NRC would submit its questions about the real estate transactions in writing. However, despite repeated attempts, Het Notarieel refused to answer the questions, NRC said. A spokesperson accused the newspaper of setting up the interview under false pretenses and called its questions “biased, insinuating, and intimidating.”