Legal Advice on Rental Agreements | Legal Advice Centre

Questioner

I recently bought a house together with my partner. The transfer will take place on 1 September. It concerns the house of our downstairs neighbours. In order to make it 'attractive' for them to sell it to us privately, so without putting it on Funda, we have made an agreement that they can continue to live there until December. They will then pay us the mortgage payments. This is because they are going on a world trip and are not sure when their preparations will be ready. We have this agreement in the mail. My question is: if the term of 1 January expires and they decide to continue living in the house, are they entitled to this? Thank you in advance for your response!

Lawyer

In principle not, that depends very much on the agreements of the mail. Incidentally, you are wise to have a written signed statement made in these kinds of cases to have more certainty. An email can sometimes get lost or not be received with all the consequences that entails. For more information or further assistance you can contact me directly.

Lawyer

This is an extremely risky agreement, because it is not clear whether there is a lease or a loan. If the sellers claim and can prove that there is a lease, they are claiming rent protection. To prevent problems, you should ask the notary to include an eviction clause in the deed of delivery, with a penalty attached for each day that the delivery is late. Incidentally, you also need permission from your mortgage bank to make such an agreement.

Lawyer

It comes down to your downstairs neighbours transferring money to you in order to be able to (continue to) use a living space. This is considered by a judge (if it comes to that) as rent and therefore they enjoy rent protection. You would indeed be wise to put something in writing. In addition to the suggestions mentioned above, you can also consider concluding a temporary rental agreement.