Increase in people in the Netherlands requesting legal aid for the first time in years

The number of legal assistance requests rose again last year after years of decline. People in the Netherlands are getting embroiled in arguments with neighbors or disagreements with homeowners associations (VvEs) more often, Stichting Achmea Rechtsbijstand reported in the Judicial Barometer of 2024.

SAR, one of the largest legal aid providers in the Netherlands, received over 124,000 reports in 2024. This is an increase of five percent compared to a year before, and it is the first increase in four years.

The number of arguments with neighbors increased by 12 percent. Many conflicts were about nuisance caused by heat pumps or air conditioning. People also had trouble with privacy issues due to cameras around the house.

The number of disagreements within VvEs rose by around a fifth. The legal aid providers are seeing that brokers and mortgage lenders are placing higher requirements on buying and selling apartments. This may mean that a maintenance plan is required for several years, and this increasingly leads to conflicts between owners.

“Disagreements happen at smaller or previously inactive VvEs where owners did their own small maintenance, like painting work,” lawyer Stijn Bouwmeister of SAR explained. "New owners with major maintenance plans often cause disagreements, also because too few reserves have been built up."

A new source of annoyance and complaints is dropshipping. This is where web stores sell products that they do not have in stock, but that a third party sends directly to the customer.

"Web shops often refer to external suppliers in case of problems, but consumers notice that the contact details of these suppliers or the webshop itself are often difficult to find," according to SAR.

The legal aid provider has said that more consumers have reported disagreements about their order after a company has gone bankrupt. People complained that they did not receive the product and that attempts for a refund are often unsuccessful.

People are also often having disagreements at work. SAR received over 28,000 legal aid requests last year. SAR lawyer IIona Renet sees that the tight labor market and the growing working population are causing more labor disagreements.

“We see that the increasing workload due to major staff shortages is often the cause of absenteeism due to illness. We also receive many requests for assistance regarding continued payment of wages during illness and as a result of disagreements about the reintegration process."