'Notaries should be more critical in their advice on land transactions'

Some land transactions should raise alarm bells. Part of the solution could be for notaries to provide more critical information, advice, and oversight. Members of Parliament Inge van Dijk and Eline Vedder (both CDA) want to know from the Ministers of Finance and the Interior and Kingdom Relations whether they agree.

In their parliamentary questions, the CDA members propose several possible solutions to combat speculative land trading. Besides a more prominent role for civil-law notaries, they also envision stricter oversight by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

Role of notary
The parliamentary questions were prompted by the Radar broadcast earlier this month. The program revealed the sophisticated methods used by dubious land dealers to deceive people. The broadcast also emphasized the wisdom of involving the notary earlier in the purchasing process.