Buying Agent in the Netherlands? Learn to Spot Legal Red Flags Before Your Client Buys Them

A good buying agent does much more than arrange viewings, develop a bidding strategy and negotiate a good deal. Just as important is your ability to recognise when something doesn’t quite add up.

And that is exactly what we teach you at Dutch Realtor Training.

As a buying agent, you don’t need to be a notary, building surveyor or property lawyer. But you do need enough knowledge to look at a property or its documentation and think: hang on, something is different here. I need to investigate this before my client buys the property.

A recent real-life case perfectly demonstrates why this matters.

A beautiful apartment with one very big problem

I recently appraised a beautiful apartment that had been sold for approximately €1,000,000. In practice, the property consisted of three full residential floors. The top floor was a roof extension of more than 50 m², containing bedrooms and a bathroom.

To a buyer, there would be absolutely no reason to think that this floor might not legally be part of the apartment. You walk upstairs and simply enter the next floor of the home.

But as a properly trained buying agent, this is exactly the kind of situation that should trigger your attention.

A roof extension on an apartment is a red flag. Not because there is necessarily anything wrong with it, but because you need to establish whether what you physically see is also legally part of what your client is buying.

And that was precisely the problem in this case.

Learn to look at a property like a buying agent

At Dutch Realtor Training, we don’t just teach you what to check. We teach you how to look at a property and its documentation from the perspective of a professional buying agent.

When your client buys an apartment in the Netherlands, they are not simply buying everything behind the front door. Legally, they are acquiring an apartment right (appartementsrecht): a share in the jointly owned property combined with the exclusive right to use a specifically defined private section.

In this case, the purchase agreement referred to a specific apartment right with its own apartment index and share in the joint ownership.

The actual property, however, consisted of three residential floors. The available legal documentation did not sufficiently demonstrate that the later roof extension of more than 50 m² had ever been legally added to that apartment right.

At that point, a buying agent should automatically be asking:

What proves that my client is legally acquiring this space?

Learning to ask the right questions is often more important than knowing every answer by heart.

There’s a building permit? Great. But you’re not finished

In this case, a building permit had been granted for the roof extension.

It is tempting to think: legally constructed, box ticked, move on.

But that is exactly the kind of mistake you want to avoid.

A building permit concerns the public-law side of the construction. It does not automatically change the private-law boundaries of an apartment right.

This is why, during our course, we teach you to recognise these different legal layers. The objective is not to turn every buying agent into a property lawyer. The objective is to make sure you recognise when you need to stop, ask more questions and, if necessary, bring in a specialist.

That is a crucial skill for any professional buying agent.

Develop your own radar for red flags

One of the things we want you to develop during Dutch Realtor Training is an almost automatic radar for unusual situations.

Do you see a roof extension on an apartment? Check the deed and plan of division.

A roof terrace? Establish where the exclusive right to use it comes from.

Has an attic been incorporated into the apartment? Find out who legally owns that space.

Is a basement, storage room, garden, parking space or part of a communal area being presented as though it obviously belongs to the property? Never simply assume that it does.

The same applies when the documentation doesn’t match what you saw during the viewing.

Don’t just continue working through your checklist.

Stop. Investigate. Ask questions.

That is professional buying agency.

“The owners’ association knows about it” is not an answer

In this case, it was stated that the owners’ association (VvE) was “of course aware” of the roof extension, and therefore the issue was not really seen as a problem.

A sharp buying agent should not stop there.

What exactly does that mean? Where is the consent documented? What did the VvE actually approve? Was a valid resolution passed? Was the deed of division subsequently amended? And was it legally established that the roof extension forms part of this specific apartment right?

Further correspondence revealed that the sellers had no written confirmation of the VvE’s consent. The extension had mainly been discussed verbally with the other owners, while the VvE was effectively dormant at the time.

That is the moment when your training and professional judgement should kick in.

Don’t think: it’s probably fine.

Think: show me why it is fine.

Collecting documents is not the same as understanding them

The VvE documentation in this case actually referred to amending the deed of division. At first glance, that sounds reassuring.

But when you read further, the proposed amendment related to dividing the existing apartment right into separate apartment rights for a residential property and commercial premises. The available documents did not show that a decision had also been made to legally add the roof extension to the apartment.

This is exactly why we place so much emphasis on practical document analysis at Dutch Realtor Training.

It is not enough to say: “Yes, I have seen the deed of division and the VvE minutes.”

You need to understand what you are looking for and why.

Spotted a red flag? Act on it

Recognising a problem is only half the job. You then need to know what to do with it.

Request additional documents. Ask the selling agent specific questions. Get important answers confirmed in writing. And if the issue goes beyond your expertise, involve a notary, lawyer or other specialist.

Knowing where your own expertise ends is part of being a professional.

If a serious issue has not yet been resolved, make sure your client does not simply buy the property unconditionally.

For example, the transaction could be made conditional upon the seller arranging a legally correct solution before completion. The exact solution will depend on the circumstances.

But remember this:

Before the purchase, the seller has a problem. After completion, your client may have bought the problem.

Always think one sale ahead

A simple technique we teach buying agents is to ask yourself one question whenever you discover something unusual:

What happens when my client wants to sell this property in five years?

Imagine accepting the situation today because everyone says it is fine. Five years later, the next buyer hires a sharp buying agent who compares the plan of division with the actual property.

A valuer then concludes that the entire top floor cannot legally be included in the valuation. The buyer cannot obtain sufficient financing or suddenly wants to pay substantially less. Meanwhile, the VvE may not be willing to cooperate with an amendment after all.

In the actual valuation report from this case, the entire second floor of approximately 53 m² was excluded. Only approximately 122 m² of living space on the lower floors was included in the valuation.

At that point, this is no longer an interesting legal discussion.

It is serious money.

And then your old purchase file comes back out

If your client discovers years later that a substantial part of their home legally does not form part of their apartment right and suffers significant financial damage as a result, questions will inevitably be asked about what happened during the original purchase.

And suddenly your file becomes very interesting.

Which documents were available? Was the discrepancy visible? Did you check the plan of division? Which questions did you ask? What did you warn your client about? And why did you ultimately advise them to proceed?

In this case, the valuer explicitly warned that if the buyers encountered problems later, the position and potential liability of the buying agent could also come into question.

But liability is not the only thing at stake.

Your reputation matters just as much.

A client is far more likely to forgive you for failing to negotiate the final €5,000 off the purchase price than for discovering years later that you overlooked a legal problem potentially worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

This is exactly what we teach at Dutch Realtor Training

A good buying agent does not need to know everything.

A good buying agent needs to know what to look out for.

That distinction is important.

At Dutch Realtor Training, we don’t just teach you how to conduct viewings, assess properties, analyse documentation, determine value, develop bidding strategies and negotiate. We teach you to think and look like a professional real estate agent.

That means recognising red flags, never taking important information at face value, asking questions when something doesn’t make sense and knowing when additional expertise is required.

Sometimes you save your client €10,000 through good negotiation.

But sometimes you earn your fee by spotting one discrepancy on a plan of division and preventing your client from buying a problem potentially worth hundreds of thousands.

Spot it. Check it. Question it. Act on it.

That is the level at which you want to work as a professional buying agent.

And that is exactly what we teach you at Dutch Realtor Training.