EUC students angry about unjust contract costs: ‘I thought this shouldn’t be allowed in the Netherlands’
Pijpers contested the 200 euros ‘booking fee’ that he had to pay to the landlord, the bank Raiffeisen, to rent a room in the Lucia building. He won and got the money. According to the judge, an amount of 7.72 euros is reasonable, instead of the requested 200 euros reservation costs, often contract costs.
Although the bank will not appeal, according to the legal consultancy Square Rent, it is possible that all students will be found in the right, just like Pijpers. At this point, most students are still considering their options.
One of the () residents of the Lucia building, where first EUC students are obliged to live, also filed against Raiffeisen. Other EUC students in the building are thinking of doing if bargaining doesn’t work.
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‘Illegal’
22-year-old Lars Morsink had known for years that it was ‘illegal’ that those costs were so high, he says. “There have been beginnings around that you could get it back and I thought I had to do something. They charged me for services that I never used and never offered me, such as applying for housing benefit. But also for services for which it is not clear that you are actually allowed to charge, such as an ID check.”
It did not leave him untouched. “Of course I was angry about it. I was educated in Venezuela, where everyone is used to corrupt practices. I thought this shouldn’t be allowed in the Netherlands. That is why I was outraged.”
Morsink therefore asked legal consultancy Square Rent for help. “Floris Vaneveld, the agency, had already helped my sister with a case for the rent committee. both me and Joris, in consultation with Vaneveld, have both filed a loss case. Then we told our classmates that they can do something. People have also written there, but there are no cases yet.”
wait, Morsink is waiting for the agreement from the judge, the settlement longer than the Pijpers case due to a delay due to the corona crisis.
Negotiate
For student Liina Knirsch (20), the result of the winner is clearly clear: “We must all sue the landlord, we must now all be entitled to our refund.” Co-resident Clement Danieri (18) agrees. “Maybe it’s not for everyone, but for me 200 euros is a lot of money. So if we paid that wrongly, we should get it back.”
The 19-year-old Annabel Rutten called the situation ‘bizarre’. “I looked at the contract and after the news I mainly thought: why did they never communicate this? It doesn’t say anywhere what exactly those contract costs are. It is a lot of money for contract costs.”
Rutten would like to talk to Milestone, the company that now manages the building and whose employees are the first contact for the students. “I would like to discuss and negotiate the situation with other students. Forty of the two hundred students have now focused on a petition, but those are the people who really want to put their name under.”
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‘All EUC students in the Lucia building can get a refund of booking fees’
Students and former students of Erasmus University College (EUC) have a massive right…