Get your money back
The agency charged you a fee it was not allowed to charge
Under article 7:417(4) of the Dutch Civil Code an agent cannot serve two masters. If the agency that invoiced you also worked for the landlord — it placed the advert, ran the viewing, or drew up the contract — then charging you a mediation fee was unlawful, whatever the invoice called it. Money paid without a legal basis is undue payment and has to be returned, and according to the Juridisch Loket you usually have five years to ask for it. Fill in the fields below and the letter writes itself.
Law checked: 25 July 2026
- An agency working for the landlord may charge the tenant nothing for that mediation (art. 7:417(4) BW).
- Renaming it administration costs, contract costs or key money changes nothing — the ban follows the service, not the label.
- Signing the contract and paying the invoice without protest does not make the charge lawful; the ban is mandatory law.
- According to the Juridisch Loket you usually have five years from the payment to reclaim it.
- The route is short: a written demand with a fourteen-day deadline, then ConsuWijzer, then the subdistrict court.
Tick the box above before you send this. The whole claim rests on that one fact. Article 7:417(4) of the Civil Code bans an agent from charging both sides, so a fee is only unlawful if the agency was also working for the landlord — which it was if it placed the ad, showed you the property or produced the contract. If the agency worked only for you, on your own search assignment, the fee was legitimate and this letter would be wrong.
Your letter
What this letter says: The letter states that on […] you paid […] in mediation fees for […], that the agency also worked for the landlord, and that under article 7:417(4) of the Dutch Civil Code it was therefore not allowed to charge you. It asks for a refund before 8 August 2026 and names ConsuWijzer and the subdistrict court as the next steps.
Aan: […] 25 juli 2026 Betreft: terugvordering van onverschuldigd betaalde bemiddelingskosten — […] Geachte heer/mevrouw, Op […] heb ik u […] betaald aan bemiddelingskosten in verband met de huurwoning aan […]. Bij de totstandkoming van deze huurovereenkomst trad u (mede) op voor de verhuurder. Op grond van artikel 7:417 lid 4 van het Burgerlijk Wetboek mocht u in dat geval geen kosten voor bemiddeling bij mij als huurder in rekening brengen. Het betaalde bedrag is daarmee onverschuldigd betaald in de zin van artikel 6:203 BW. Dat ik de overeenkomst heb ondertekend en de factuur zonder protest heb voldaan, maakt dat niet anders: het verbod is van dwingend recht en kan niet bij beding opzij worden gezet. Ik verzoek u daarom het volledige bedrag van […] uiterlijk op 8 August 2026 over te maken op rekeningnummer […] ten name van […], onder vermelding van het bovengenoemde adres. Voor de goede orde stel ik u hierbij in gebreke. Blijft betaling binnen die termijn uit, dan meld ik de gang van zaken bij ConsuWijzer, het consumentenloket van de Autoriteit Consument & Markt, en leg ik de vordering met de wettelijke rente voor aan de kantonrechter. Ik ontvang graag een schriftelijke bevestiging van uw reactie. Met vriendelijke groet, […]
This is not legal advice. It is a letter you send yourself, citing the article of the Civil Code so the agency can check it. It is written in Dutch because it is addressed to a Dutch agency. Send it by email and by registered post, keep a copy, and give it the 14 days it asks for. If nothing comes back, report the agency to ConsuWijzer — the ACM acts on reports — and claims up to €25,000 go to the subdistrict court without a lawyer.
Nothing you type here leaves your browser: no upload, no analytics, no storage. Close the tab and it is gone.
When was the agency fee actually illegal?
When the same agency was also working for the landlord. That is the whole test, and it catches most of the Dutch rental market: an agency that advertised the property, selected the tenant and produced the contract is the landlord's agent, and article 7:417(4) of the Civil Code stops it billing you for the same mediation.
In 2015 the Supreme Court confirmed the ban covers online rental platforms that list homes and then charge the tenant for making contact. The ACM enforces it, has imposed orders on agencies to make them stop, and collects reports through its consumer portal ConsuWijzer.
There is a narrow legitimate case, and it is worth being honest about it. If the agency worked only for you — you gave it a private search assignment and it went looking on your behalf — then it was your agent, and it may charge you. So can a genuinely separate service, such as applying for a housing permit, at a real cost.
| The charge | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Mediation fee while the agency also worked for the landlord | No — this is the core of the ban |
| Administration costs, contract costs or key money in that same setup | No — the same fee under a different name |
| A genuinely separate service for you, such as a housing-permit application | Can be allowed — a real service, at a real cost |
| A fee where the agency worked only for you, on your own search assignment | Allowed — this is genuine tenant-side mediation |
What should the demand letter say?
Five things. What you paid and when, which address it was for, that the agency also acted for the landlord, the article that makes that unlawful, and a date by which you expect the refund — with what happens if it does not arrive.
That last part is what turns a complaint into a formal notice. In Dutch practice an ingebrekestelling puts the other side in default: statutory interest starts running, and it is the step a court looks for before it takes a claim seriously. Keep it short and unemotional, and do not argue the case in advance. A letter that argues invites an argument.
The letter this page produces is written in Dutch even when you are reading in English, because it is addressed to a Dutch, KVK-registered business and cites a Dutch statute. The summary above it tells you exactly what you are sending.
- Name the charge the way the invoice did, then let the letter explain why the name is irrelevant.
- Give a real deadline. Fourteen days is standard, and a deadline you do not enforce teaches the reader to ignore the next one.
- Send it by email and by registered post, so delivery is provable.
- Keep the invoice, the contract and every reply. If this reaches the subdistrict court, the file is the case.
How long do you have to reclaim bemiddelingskosten?
According to the Juridisch Loket, usually five years from the payment. That is a guide rather than a promise: exactly when a claim prescribes turns on facts a web page cannot see, which is why the tool warns you when the date looks late rather than telling you the claim is dead.
Inside that window, the passage of time does not weaken the claim. Neither does having signed. The dual-service ban is mandatory consumer law, so a clause in the contract agreeing to the fee cannot override it — your signature proves you paid, it does not make the charge lawful.
What if the agency refuses or has disappeared?
Refusals usually run one of two scripts. "You signed for it" is answered by the mandatory-law point above. "It was for administration" is answered by asking, in writing, exactly which separate service was performed and at what cost. Vague invoices tend to dissolve under that one question.
If nothing comes back, report the agency to ConsuWijzer. The ACM acts on reports, and enforcement patterns are built from them, so a report is useful even when your own money never arrives. After that, a money claim up to 25,000 euro goes to the subdistrict court without a lawyer, with statutory interest from the deadline your letter set.
A letter is not a guarantee, and this page is not legal advice. It does not prove your claim, it cannot compel anyone, and it cannot tell you whether your agency was working for the landlord — only you know that. What it does is state the rule, name the article, and put your position on the record, which is the step everything after it depends on.
One case this page cannot help with: if the "agency" that charged you had no office, no KVK registration and no working phone number, you were not overcharged by a middleman, you were defrauded, and the playbook is different — start with your bank.
Frequently asked questions
Are rental agency fees legal in the Netherlands?
Usually not for tenants. If the agency also acted for the landlord — the standard setup on the Dutch rental market — article 7:417(4) of the Civil Code stops it charging the tenant any mediation fee. A fee is only legitimate when the agency worked exclusively for you, or for a genuinely separate service such as a housing-permit application.
The invoice says administration costs, not mediation fees. Does the ban still apply?
Yes. According to the Juridisch Loket and the ACM the name is irrelevant: administration costs, contract costs, key money or sign-up fees in a landlord-agency setup are the same unlawful charge under a different label. The letter names the charge the way your invoice did and then makes exactly this point.
I signed a clause agreeing to the fee. Can I still reclaim it?
Yes. The dual-service ban is mandatory consumer law and a contract clause cannot set it aside. Your signature proves that you paid; it does not make the charge lawful. Paying without protest at the time does not weaken the claim either.
How far back can I go?
According to the Juridisch Loket, usually five years from the date you paid. The tool works out how long ago that was and warns you when the payment looks too old to rely on — but the exact prescription date depends on facts we cannot see, so ask the Juridisch Loket before writing off an older claim.
Does anything I type here get sent to you?
No. The letter is composed in your browser. There is no upload, no analytics event and no storage of any kind — close the tab and everything you entered is gone.