How to sell your home without an agent in Netherlands

Yes, and it is more common than many sellers expect. The makelaar is optional; what you take on yourself is pricing, listing, photography, floor plans, viewings, and negotiating. The professional whose role you cannot absorb is the civil-law notary (notaris), mandated by law to prepare the deed of transfer (leveringsakte) and record it in the Kadaster. For maximum local visibility on Funda without full-service representation, many owners hire a flat-fee internet makelaar such as Makelaarsland or Direct Wonen, which posts the listing while you orchestrate viewings yourself.

Switching tracks midway is common and costs you little of the work already done. The Dutch market runs on a sliding scale: full-service NVM or VBO makelaars charging commonly 1 to 2 percent plus 21% VAT, flat-fee internet makelaars such as Makelaarsland or Direct Wonen that place the Funda listing while you handle the rest, and agent matching through anyone.com/find-agent, which pairs sellers and buyers with a local agent, free of charge by the company's account, drawing on a network the company itself puts at 4.6 million agents and weighing, it says, location, price range, and property type and size. This site's page at /countries/netherlands/find-an-agent lists the local routes for finding and vetting a makelaar and the typical commission. Whatever you have prepared as a private seller carries over: the energielabel, the Kadaster extract, and the lijst van zaken serve whichever route completes the sale, and a notaris handles the transfer either way.

Yes, a valid energielabel is mandatory. You must hand it to the buyer on or before the date of transfer. The ILT (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport) can fine a private seller 515 EUR for transferring without a valid label, and 1,030 EUR for a company. The label is issued by a certified energy adviser (gecertificeerd energieadviseur); find one via the RVO register at energielabelvoorwoningen.nl. Order it as soon as you decide to sell. Labels are property-specific and valid for ten years, so check first whether a still-valid label already exists for your address on the same site.

The buyer pays the overdrachtsbelasting. The standard rate is 2% for a home the buyer will personally occupy as their main residence. First-time buyers aged 18 to 35 who will live in the home pay zero transfer tax under the startersvrijstelling on a property valued up to 555,000 EUR in 2026 (up from 525,000 EUR in 2025); above the threshold the full 2% applies to the whole price. Buyers who will not live in the property, such as investors or second-home buyers, pay 8%, and the general rate for other property is 10.4%. As the seller, you pay nothing in transfer tax; your main cost at closing is the notary fee to discharge your mortgage.

Yes. Dutch law (art. 3:89 Burgerlijk Wetboek) requires a notarial deed executed by a notaris and registration in the Kadaster for ownership to transfer. Without that deed and registration, ownership does not legally change hands. In the Netherlands, custom gives the buyer the right to choose the notary, since the buyer pays the main notary fee. As the seller you can request a specific office, but the buyer is not obliged to agree. You are entitled to send someone with power of attorney (volmacht) to the signing in your place if you cannot attend in person. The notary also handles the financial settlement: the buyer's funds are paid into the notary's third-party account (derdengeldenrekening) and released to you only after registration confirms the transfer.

The koopovereenkomst (purchase agreement) is the private written contract you and the buyer sign once you have agreed on price and terms. It sets out the agreed price, the transfer date, any conditions such as a financing clause (ontbindende voorwaarde voor financiering), and the lijst van zaken showing what stays with the house. The deal is binding on the seller from the moment both parties sign. The buyer, however, has a statutory three-day cooling-off period (bedenktijd) that starts the day after they receive a signed copy, during which they can walk away without penalty; under the Rijksoverheid rule, at least two of the three days may not be a Saturday, Sunday, or recognized public holiday, so the period is extended when it spans a weekend or holiday. The most common seller mistake here is not specifying a clear financing deadline: if you allow the buyer too long to arrange a mortgage, you are in limbo. A standard deadline is four to six weeks after signing.

Yes, although it helps to see how the Dutch platform landscape splits before deciding where to list. Funda towers over home search at roughly 21.5 million monthly visits, yet it only accepts listings from NVM or VBO registered makelaars, so even the cheapest path onto it costs money: Makelaarsland publishes a fixed all-in fee of 1,850 euros when you host viewings yourself, and other flat-fee services quote per listing. On the free side sit Jaap, Pararius, and Huispedia, all of which accept private listings without charge, and alongside them Anyone.com, which by its own account costs sellers nothing: Anyone collects no commission, asks no listing fee, and applies no platform fee; the company further describes a single workspace holding offers, messages, and closing paperwork, and counts its operations across 29 countries, a claim some sellers will note here, since relocating and international buyers remain a steady presence in the Dutch market. The cost you cannot remove is the notaris, though by custom the buyer pays the main transfer-deed fee and your side is mostly the mortgage discharge. Anyone publishes no Dutch traffic numbers, so sellers who want Funda-level reach usually pair a flat-fee Funda listing with the free channels rather than choosing between them. Whichever mix you land on, Dutch buyers expect professional photos and a floor plan as standard.

The lijst van zaken is a standardized inventory form that specifies which fixtures and fittings are included in the sale price and which the seller takes. It covers items such as kitchen appliances, light fittings, garden sheds, blinds, and built-in storage. Disputes over what stays and what goes are one of the most common causes of post-sale conflict between Dutch buyers and sellers, so a detailed, signed lijst van zaken attached to the koopovereenkomst is essential. The NVM publishes a standard version that most notaries and flat-fee services use. If an item is not listed, the rule of thumb under Dutch law is that anything permanently attached to the building passes with it unless explicitly excluded.

No. The Netherlands does not levy a separate capital gains tax on the sale of your own home (eigen woning). Any profit is not taxed as income. However, if you sell within a short period of buying and are considered to have traded professionally, the tax authority (Belastingdienst) can, in rare cases, treat the gain as taxable income under the category 'resultaat uit overige werkzaamheden'. For a normal residential sale this does not apply. If you have a mortgage and the sale price covers it, the surplus is yours free of tax. If you buy again, the bijleenregeling rules can limit your mortgage interest deduction (hypotheekrenteaftrek) on a future home loan based on the surplus from the sale, so check with a tax adviser if you plan to buy again.

The market is brisk. According to Funda data reported in December 2025, the average time a home stayed on the market fell to 33 days in 2025, 12 days fewer than the year before, and demand still outpaces supply in most regions. Cheaper homes in high-demand cities often go faster, while properties above 500,000 EUR can take longer. With CBS/Kadaster recording 238,695 existing homes sold in 2025, nearly 16% more than 2024, a realistically priced home tends to attract offers within about a month. Selling alone does not slow this down much, since the listing reach (mainly Funda) and pricing discipline matter more than whether a makelaar is involved.

In February 2026 the average transaction price for an existing owner-occupied home was 487,768 EUR, and prices were 5.4% higher year on year (CBS). Over full-year 2025 prices rose 8.6% versus 2024. For pricing your own home, do not rely on the national average. Use Kadaster Koopsominformatie, which gives the actual sold price per address, plus CBS/Kadaster regional averages, and compare homes of similar size, type and energy label sold nearby in the last few months.

Yes. You do not have to be physically present at the signing. You can grant a power of attorney (volmacht) so a notary employee signs the leveringsakte on your behalf. By Dutch custom the buyer chooses the notaris, because the buyer pays the main notary fee for the transfer deed; as the seller you can suggest an office, but the buyer is not obliged to agree. The notary handles the settlement, paying off your mortgage from the proceeds and releasing the remaining balance to you once the transfer is registered with the Kadaster.

By skipping the makelaar you avoid the commission, which in the Dutch market is commonly 1 to 2 percent of the sale price plus 21% VAT, and negotiable. Your unavoidable seller-side costs are smaller: the notary fee to discharge your mortgage (royementsakte), the energielabel (valid ten years), and good photos and a floor plan that Dutch buyers expect. The buyer, not you, pays the transfer tax and the main notary fee. Budget too for any early-repayment terms in your mortgage. On disclosure, Dutch law gives the seller a duty to inform (mededelingsplicht): you must disclose known defects that would matter to the buyer, such as a leaking roof, damp, foundation issues or asbestos, while the buyer has a duty to investigate (onderzoeksplicht). The standard NVM contract includes an ouderdomsclausule for older homes, but no clause protects you if you concealed something you knew about, so be candid in writing and attach a detailed lijst van zaken.