Landlords Offer Tenants €100,000 to Leave. You Can Say No

If you rent from a private landlord, you may receive an unexpected letter offering you money to move out. Some of these tenant offers now run into six figures.

These offers are shaped by simple math. An empty house is worth a lot more than one with tenants. Many landlords want to sell and offer their tenants a sum to do so.

The Tenant Who Turned Down Her Landlords €100,000 Offer

A woman in the east of the country had rented the same house for more than 20 years, paying about €600 a month. Her landlord offered her around €100,000 to leave. She refused. Renting a comparable house would have cost her double, so the money would have lasted roughly 14 years.

Dutch media reported her case after Proranje Vastgoed, a company that buys rented houses with tenants in place, published its figures on October 26th. In the third quarter, more than half of the private investors who contacted the company had already offered their tenants money to move. The offers ranged from tens of thousands of euros to over € 100,000 in a few cases, said founder Jelmer Schortinghuis.

Read Also: The Great Dutch Rental Squeeze: Why Small Landlords Are Selling Up

What Makes a Vacant House Sell for More?

A tenanted home typically sells for 60 to 70 percent of its vacant value, and with low rent, it can drop to half. For a home valued at €500,000, the difference is €150,000 or more. That’s why it can make sense for an owner to pay a tenant €100,000 to leave.

Kadaster’s own data confirms the trend. In the third quarter of 2025, the average price for a home sold by an investor was €384,000, while the average for a home sold by any other seller was €511,000. Two-thirds of homes sold by investors went to first-time buyers.

In the third quarter of 2026, Proranje received 31 percent more requests from private owners wanting to sell a rented home than the previous year. According to Schortinghuis, the Box 3 tax on second homes (still being reworked) creates uncertainty for investors and is the main reason they “don’t know where they stand.” Kadaster counted about 75,000 rented homes moving to owner-occupiers in two years, though it said in May the peak had passed.

Can They Make You Go?

No. The sale of a home doesn’t end your lease. By law, the buyer inherits your lease. To end your lease, the landlord would need one of a short list of reasons, and a wish to sell is only one of those reasons, under certain conditions. If you object, a judge decides, and you keep your home until the judge rules.

That protection is why offers exist. A landlord who cannot end the contract can only ask the tenant to end it, and the tenant can always refuse the offer, negotiate, or make a counteroffer.

The Hidden Cost of Saying Yes

A premium isn’t a salary, but it is an asset. If your savings are above about €38,000 on 1 January, you lose huurtoeslag (rent allowance) for the whole year. The zorgtoeslag (healthcare allowance) limit is higher, at €146,011 for this year, but it drops to €119,122 in 2027. Money that is in the bank is also taxed in Box 3 each year.

Then there’s the rent gap. If a new home costs €500 more a month, a €60,000 premium is gone in 10 years. The Dutch press also reports that confidentiality clauses are the norm, so you might not be allowed to tell your neighbors what was offered.

If you’re on the other side, an owner with one or two rental homes weighing a sale against keeping the tenant, Expat Housing Network walks through that same calculation from the owner’s side in its webinar on selling versus letting your home.

Your Rent, Their Price Gap, and One January Date

Before you answer any landlord offers, work out three things:

Your rent compared to a comparable home in the area, multiplied by how many years you want to stay.
The premium after tax and benefits: check where your savings would stand on 1 January.
Any conditions, including a confidentiality clause, reviewed by the Juridisch Loket or a rental lawyer.

Rental legislation changes each year, as do the offers that land on your doormat. Sign up to our newsletter, and we’ll flag the next change before it reaches you.