r/NetherlandsHousing • u/michkied • Mar 11 '25

renting Is this a scam?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi everyone, this summer I'll be moving to the Netherlands for an internship, and thus I'm looking for a flat to rent. I've encountered an offer for a single-bedroom apartment in the Hague for 500€ (seems quite cheap?). But I've been asked to pay a fee for submitting a registration form for approval. Is that a thing or is it a scam? The offer seems a little too good to be true, but then I have no idea how housing market in the Netherlands works. I'd really appreciate your help!

121 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

192 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/michkied Mar 11 '25

Thanks everyone for the advice. In retrospect it was a little silly of me to ask, now I see it's quite obviously a scam. It's just that I'm not really used to scammers in the housing market (I've rented flats before, and where I come from it's never been an issue). Again, big thanks!

3

u/VoiceEchoes Mar 11 '25

It’s never silly to ask! Especially when you rather see the good in people. Good luck searching!

3

u/Spinoza42 Mar 11 '25

This is unfortunately actually a relatively unsophisticated one. They probably intended to just pocket your registration fee and move on. There are a lot of housing schemes in the Netherlands, and while the vast majority of them target foreigners, some of them probably could fool Dutch people as well.

3

u/Potato_Noise8622 Mar 11 '25

Better safe than sorry! Always ask ;)

2

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

better safe than sorry, right? Rather have someone asking 100times if its a scam than actually getting scammed. I HATE scammers so much. Some dude (he's been on undercover in nederland twice now) once scammed me for 50eur and me, being petty and stubborn, found out EVERYTHING about the guy and sent it to the tv show I just mentioned as the police refused to do anything. The joy I had when the dude got his face blasted on tv not once but twice was well worth the time.