What’s the point?

We need to count points these days. That’s just the way it is. The more points your property has, the more you rent you can ask – legally, that is. Points are awarded for:

• Obvious things like number of square meters, balcony or roof terrace, separate toilet.
• Less obvious things like the number of separate wash basins there are in the bathroom.
• Things not at all obvious such as the type of wall-cavity insulation (only verifiable by drilling a dirty big hole in the wall).

This over-focus on the points is driving some of the charm and impulse out of the game. Instead of schmoozing your client and securing a deal on the promise of a cold beer later and maybe a bite of dinner, consultants now have to explain a complex points system, make sure the official count of these precious pointlings is in (ludicrous and inflated claims by owners of their points are no longer acceptable), ask about the clients income and in many cases secure a woonvergunning (permission to rent) from the local authority.

If these seemingly arbitrary steps are not taken in the right order and accompanied by the correct bits of official paper then bad things can (and will) happen. I refer here to the tenant complaining to the rental commission that the rent is higher than points permit (often based on the inflated point counts of desperate, disparate owners looking to recover their renovation investments) resulting in the various pointing of fingers. Invariably, the fingers all end up pointing at Ideal Housing as we, as experts and as the largest thing to point at, have not only ripped off the client but have poorly advised the owner – this at least is the owner’s refrain when up before the rental commission – even, ironically, when the owner’s points tally was the base from which to start.