Vesteda puts a stop to bribery attempts and undue pressure from prospective tenants

Vesteda’s letting agents are facing an increasing number of bribery attempts, more undue pressure and even threats via social media. The tight rental market in particular has  driven an upsurge in such excesses in behaviour among prospective tenants. To make it clear that it finds this kind of behaviour unacceptable, Vesteda recently stated on its website that such behaviour will result in the complete termination of contact with prospective tenants.

Clear selection criteria

Vesteda receives around 10,000 responses each month to an average rental offering of 400 homes per month. And the average number of responses per home is often much higher in Amsterdam and other large cities. Vesteda does not use waiting lists, but sets clear selection criteria based on income requirements, rental start date, the completeness of any required documentation and household composition. If several candidates meet these criteria, the date and time the rental home is viewed applies.

Inappropriate behaviour

Due to the tight rental market, letting agents are faced with an increasing number of prospective tenants who offer money to gain priority. These amounts can run as high as EUR 5,000 each time. In addition, the names and e-mail addresses of rental employees are being circulated in closed app groups and on social media, with calls to approach them directly for a rental property. Vesteda employees are also being personally approached via their social media accounts and put under pressure to rent properties. Vesteda has decided to cease all contact with such candidates and have this inappropriate behaviour reported internally. Vesteda recently posted this policy on its external website.

Tenant nomination

Since 1 April 2022, Vesteda’s policy has been to not allow departing tenants to nominate their own candidate tenants for a vacant property with a rental price up to EUR 1,400. This policy change was also initiated due to inappropriate behaviour, namely departing tenants asking for high takeover fees and key money.