Land traders have made hundreds of millions in recent years by selling small plots of agricultural land in huge quantities to unsuspecting private individuals. Buyers were told that farmland would quickly become building land, and therefore worth more, but in practice that rarely happened.

Land merchants were, and still are, assisted by notaries who failed to make buyers aware of the enormous risks and actions akin to stifling contracts. Many buyers have never seen or spoken to a notary. Although there is more attention to this phenomenon, for example after previous research on Daily Finance And RTL Nieuws, the ministers saw no reason to intervene at the moment.

‘Political credibility is at stake’

This must change now, says Rutger Claassen, professor of political philosophy and economic ethics at Utrecht University. He argues that politicians must now step in to end the deception and to preserve their credibility.

“I think this whole phenomenon of land speculation will have social consequences in that people will once again lose faith in social institutions and feel broken. And this is not just about speculators and sellers, it is also about the role of the notary, the role of politics and the extent to which politics can put a stop to that.” So there is something at stake here for all of these powers.”

The end of “fraud”

Claassen’s message seems to be heard by the VVD and D66 coalition parties. They are shocked by what RTL News has revealed and want an end to the speculative land trade.

According to Ulysse Ellian (VVD), stricter rules should be introduced for notaries who fail this “scam”. The VVD wants to oblige notaries to see buyers. Nowadays, this does not usually happen and many transactions are carried out by means of the so-called agency. “A civil notary must ask if someone is aware of the danger of the land losing its value almost certainly. In that case, a power of attorney will not suffice, because those power of attorneys keep all those shady constructions. As we are concerned, it must end This access.

D66 MP Faysal Bolajar wants to bring notaries, land dealers and victims to the House of Representatives for a hearing, where everyone can watch. “Come on and explain and give the victims a voice. I can’t stand to deliberately mislead people, well-meaning people. So we have to limit that.”

The VVD also supports a hearing.