Purchase or rental contract often far too complicated

SNS sees that many Dutch people sign their rental or purchase contracts without fully understanding their contents. Often, they blindly trust the expert who drafted the contract. SNS director Angela Eijlander finds this worrying: "This can cause people to face financial difficulties later on," reads the headline in today's Telegraaf newspaper.

The bank's survey of 1,000 Dutch people shows that three-quarters of renters or homebuyers sign a contract without knowing its contents. Among young people (up to 30 years old), this figure even reaches 9 out of 10.

Many people indicate that contracts contain too many difficult words and phrases. The fact that they ultimately sign such an important contract is because half say they trust the expert's expertise.

This isn't expected to improve in the future. After all, 15-year-old Dutch students score poorly in reading, and their proficiency has also declined sharply compared to a few years ago. This is evident from the international trend study PISA ( Programme for International Student Assessment ) published earlier this year, in which researchers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation in Development (OECD) measure the skills of 15-year-olds worldwide every three or four years.

Of course, we all have ourselves to blame for this to some extent. After all, we elect our representatives during national elections. In the Netherlands, the Senate and the House of Representatives, along with the government, together form the legislative branch. The legislative branch drafts rules and laws. Most bills originate in the government. Occasionally, the House of Representatives also introduces a bill. The laws are written by very talented legislative lawyers. We have to deal with those legal texts. We cannot distort legal reality by rewriting everything in a legal document, but we can explain and clarify. And so we do.

To make it easier for our own customers:

• Under the heading "Notarial Language" in the footer of our website, we explain many legal terms in simple terms.
• We've compiled frequently asked questions, which you can also find at the bottom of our website's homepage, along with the corresponding answers. In plain English.
• We offer low-literate readers, dyslexic readers, and anyone else who doesn't enjoy reading or finds it difficult to read access to more than 100 videos in which we explain a great deal via the YouTube icon on our website.
• We publish informative and easy-to-read news items on our website.
• We distribute a newsletter with interesting facts every quarter.
• We provide free information meetings about notarial services to anyone who registers.
• When executing the deed, does the notary fulfill his legal obligation to "instruct?" It's a typical term that only a few people know what it means. In short, the notary must properly inform the parties to the deed about its content, verify their consent, and ensure that the parties can understand the legal consequences of the transaction (e.g., sale or purchase).

Now that's what I call "Good for each other"!