# So happy to leave The Netherlands in 2 days!



## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

I don't have much time to write down all the struggles I faced in this country. But I will say I am still encountering issues up until 2 days from move!

It is causing me stress but I see a silver lining in that it just confirms that I have made the right decision.

The common denominator, I believe, behind most of the issues I have had in The Netherlands is a cultural backdrop of extreme, pathological greed. It's a mentality of, if my business, service or good failed you, well, it sucks to be you and I already received your money, so sorry but you are not getting anything back!

I will detail the issues later when I have time, but needed to get it a bit off my chest. I am so busy now, because in addition to dealing with regular moving stuff (all on my own!), I now also have to prepare a small claims court case against my last apt. rental agency! 

It's a company that manages nearly 20000 properties! The money at stake is peanuts to them, but significant to me! They gave 3000 EUR worth of goods in the apt I left for free to the new tenant! When all this time I was told I would be called when potential tenant came for viewing so that I could offer for sale the things! My claim (what I would have expected from the new tenant) would only be for max half of that!

If tenant didn't want them then I would have sold them online. They never called me for viewing with tenant and one day I emailed to check the status and their reply was, oh yes the new tenant took over the things, so you don't need to take them out.


This issue is also kind of particular to The Netherlands because many apartments here are rented without absolutely anything! In my case the apartment had no floor, no curtain rails, no lamp fixtures. I had to pay for all the goods and their installation. It is then the norm that these are sold to the new tenant. But alas in my case the goods were stolen from me, because, of course, for the agency it is much easier to find a new tenant if the tenant won't have to buy and install all those things.


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## expat16 (Jun 11, 2016)

mushmonster said:


> It's been a bad experience for you, right? How much time did you spend there? How are you doing now? Are you happy with your new life?


Hi there,

Yes, in many ways it was. Although I have to say at the beginning I was so happy and excited to start a new adventure! There were many good things but the balance after all things considered was negative for my lifestyle and expectations. 

I am now in Spain, and although it's been too short to say it's much better, I am very happy so far with the weather (one of my main dislikes of NL), and the supermarkets (another of my main dislikes in NL). So I think I can be happy here for a long time.

I look back at my time in NL now with nostalgia, lived there for about 6 years, and will surely return for holidays. There is always an element of 'what if' left in your thoughts when one makes a decision to change country etc. And while I survived there for a long time, and could probably survive even longer if I had no choice but to stay...I am curious to see what this new life brings me.


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## cschrd2 (Oct 31, 2011)

Standard property in NL is indeed empty when received and has to be returned in the original state (hence empty). Any changes are ok if the next tenant accepts them. Especially larger corporations are pretty firm on this as it lowers the operational cost. It is YOUR responsibility to make this happen as its your rental agreement. I don't think this kind of stuff works differently in the US (also personal experience). 
Good luck in Spain, just remember the grass is always greener (on the neighbor's septic tank).


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## fertooos (Mar 19, 2018)

Welcome to NL again )


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