Nearly Half of Dutch Rental Agents Agree to Exclude Moroccan Applicants
In the Netherlands, nearly one in two real estate agents agree to exclude Moroccan applicants at a landlord’s request. A new official survey also finds that people with Moroccan-sounding names are less likely to be invited to view a property.
“Is it possible not to rent to foreigners, such as Moroccans, Turks or Poles?” Between January and April 2026, investigators put this question to 200 Dutch real estate agents, posing as landlords. Of these, 97, or 48.5%, said they were willing to comply. The findings are included in the fifth national survey on rental discrimination, published this Wednesday, November 4.
Among these 97 professionals, 46 agreed without mentioning the ban on discriminating against applicants. Another 18 acknowledged that this kind of screening was illegal but still offered to do it. Twenty even suggested specific methods: screening applications before forwarding them to the landlord, requiring applicants to speak Dutch, or trying to find out their origin during viewings.
The responses of other agents reveal different ways of allowing the request to go ahead. Forty-nine left the final decision to the landlord, while eleven suggested selection criteria that could indirectly exclude people of certain origins. In all, 78.5% of the professionals surveyed left room for discrimination. Only 40 of the 200 clearly refused to take part in this screening.
A Moroccan name makes it harder to get a viewing
Researchers at the Verwey-Jonker Institute also conducted 4,096 correspondence tests between December 2025 and May 2026. They responded to property listings using comparable fictional profiles, divided into five categories to measure the effect of perceived origin, gender or couple status on invitations to view properties.
The results show statistically significant discrimination against applicants with Moroccan-sounding names. The net discrimination index reached 14% for men and 16% for women. These indicators measure the disadvantage observed compared with profiles bearing Dutch names.
In the previous survey, conducted in 2024-2025, the differences between applicants with Moroccan and Dutch names were no longer statistically significant. The Dutch government now finds that applicants with Moroccan-sounding names are less likely to be invited to view a property.
A final phone exchange illustrates agents’ practices. After receiving a positive response to their discriminatory request, investigators asked 85 professionals about the risks involved. Fifty assured them that the landlord would face no problems selecting applicants according to their preferences. Seven even suggested ways to conceal the discrimination, including giving the rejected applicant another reason for the refusal.
