Yes, the system does lend itself to abuse. It's a shame that being honest is not the best policy as I also suspect there are many cases where people move abroad, don't deregister, continue claiming the interest rebate, etc.

Our own makelaar, who himself only receives a fee if we sell the apartment, also mentioned that in his opinion 80% of people who rent don't ask permission from the banks and that in our case we probably would have been better off keeping it to ourselves....

As for not deregistering, that could bring down a whole lot of other consequences upon us I would imagine... but again, if we never plan on coming back what difference does it make? If we're already likely to have the apartment repossessed, it can't get much worse I suppose.

Sadly, postponing our departure is not an option.

Thanks all for your comments.

veldrin055 (Sep 13 2010, 04:16 PM) said: > original post
I'll give you €20 for the house

Only if you pay the notary fees and there is a brown paper bag full of Aussie dollars under the table!

Spoke with the bank. Despite the fact we will be earning almost double what we earn here and not even accounting for the fact we would also be receiving rent here, the answer is basically no.

I fully accept that it is part of the mortgage agreement we signed up to. That I don't have a problem with.

But the funny thing is the bank are willing to give up a "guaranteed" revenue stream. (You'll just have to take my word for it being guaranteed.)

When I suggested to them that in the absence of a concrete offer to buy the apartment, they are basically leaving us to choose between renting out the apartment against their mortgage rules or leaving the apartment vacant in a city short of housing, I was offered only silence. You can't force somebody to buy your apartment. You can drop the price so low that the mortgage could not be paid out from the proceeds though, in which case we would just as well jump on a plane and say bye-bye NL and leave them to sort out the mess. (OK, I wouldn't really do that, but some people do.)

So the risk of being foreclosed upon is not really any worse than the other alternatives we face.

A lesson for other expats in renting being better than buying perhaps? To paraphrase an old chestnut, "only in the Netherlands..."

wesleynl (Sep 6 2010, 10:41 AM) said: > original post
I just use my fly swatter, or electric racket, to get rid of them...

Electric racket???

Being tall means I often get the webs in my face and hair that everyone else safely goes under. AAAARGH!

But coming from downunder, I only kill the ones that are deadly themselves.

Pondering keeping our Amsterdam apartment when we leave in November. It would be nice to come back one day and show the kids where they were born. They may even want to live in the apartment where they first drew breath!

As per other threads on here, it is difficult to keep a mortgage or refinance if the lender knows you might not ever be coming back. Supposed to request permission to rent... yaddayaddayadda

Anyone have experience with leaving the country in this type of situation? Any problem with the lender if they find out? How would they find out?

N.B. We will be deregistering and will stop claiming the mortgage subsidy, so noone is being cheated. We will continue to pay our mortgage and our "housesitter" would be a personal friend and will be allowed to register, so as far as we see it, noone is losing out.

I don't have any moral qualms with not telling the bank as, apart from the fact it's a bank , the apartment's value is significantly higher than the mortgage value so they wouldn't lose out if they decide to foreclose.

Would love to hear your observations or experiences.

Thanks in advance.