News item | 20-11-2025 | 09:00
The government is investigating the introduction of a statutory cooling-off period for consumers when purchasing land. This should better protect them against dubious and speculative land trade. In addition to an additional focus on information, the possibilities of a broader exchange of information between supervisors are being explored.
Minister Keijzer (Public Housing and Spatial Planning) wrote this today, partly on behalf of the Minister of Finance and the State Secretary for Justice and Security, in a letter to the House of Representatives.
Splitting a plot to offer individual plots for a fee is often legitimate and a common practice in area development, for example by selling split plots to future residents. Land trading becomes questionable when sellers put pressure on buyers, withhold information or wrongly suggest that the land will quickly increase in value. For example, because the function changes to building land. Buyers can be disadvantaged for large amounts as a result.
Greater awareness of risks
The minister points out that under current legislation, consumers can have the purchase agreement annulled and recover damages in the event of unfair commercial practices. There also seems to be a greater awareness of the risks. New figures from the Land Registry show that the number of transactions in investment plots continues to decline; possibly due to the attention of politicians and media for speculative land trade. Furthermore, notaries also appear to be discussing risks more explicitly as part of their duty of care.
With a view to possible future undesirable developments, the minister weighs proposals from a working group and the Minhas/Boulakjar motion in her letter. The motion calls for an investigation into a ban on divisions in speculative trade with agricultural land. The cabinet advises against this. A division ban is contrary to property rights and actually hinders regular area development where developers sell plots to future residents.
Exploration of legal reflection period
The same applies to a number of proposals from the project group and the Land Registry that carry the risk of slowing down regular area development and increasing regulatory pressure. The measures then turn out to be ineffective.
The government is investigating the desirability of introducing a statutory reflection period of three days when purchasing land for consumers. This protects them against impulse purchases. Private individuals can then cancel the purchase agreement without consequences, just as is the case with a home purchase.
Investigate information exchange
The government is also examining whether it is necessary to (legally) expand the exchange of information between supervisors. Specific attention is paid to information from the Financial Supervision Office (BFT), which is bound by a duty of confidentiality when it comes to individual cases.
The government is continuing to work with partners on additional information to further increase awareness of the risks of speculative trading.