What is buyer costs (kosten koper K.K) and what should you pay attention to?

What is costs-to-buyer (k.k.)?

‘k.k.’ is an abbreviation for kosten koper (k.k.). This abbreviation is often at the back of the asking price of an existing house for sale. There are various costs associated with buyer’s costs, what exactly are they and what should you look out for? Costs can include land registry fees, notary fees or transfer tax. Purchase costs are separate from the purchase price, so these are additional costs and cannot be co-financed with a mortgage. The meaning of kosten koper is buyer costs.

How much is the buyer’s cost?

As a buyer, you want to know the costs of buying a house. The buyer’s costs include several costs. These can be the cadastral registration fees, notary fees and transfer tax so it varies per situation. Your costs will be affected depending on what the selling party asks of you. On average, buyer’s costs (k.k.) are 5% to 6% of the purchase price, should you use the exemption it will be around 3% to 4% over the purchase price.

What falls under buyer’s costs?

When buying a new house, a number of items fall under buyer’s costs. These costs are for the buyer, as the name buyer costs already indicates. Below, you will find a further explanation of the topics covered by these costs. If you are curious about an example calculation, scroll down a bit. So you can estimate for yourself how much it will cost to buy your new home. These are the costs that make buying a new house expensive.

Cadastral registrations

When you buy a house, it must be properly registered in which name a property will be registered. This simply involves changing or registering the owner’s name. The notary can take care of all this and the costs for this are covered by the buyer’s costs.

Notary fees

When buying an existing house, there are (usually) two deeds prepared by the notary, deed of mortgage and deed of transfer. In case you buy the property with a mortgage, you will need a deed of mortgage, a financial obligation between the buyer and the bank. The deed of delivery is the proof of possession in the form of property.

Transfer tax 2023

The transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) is also part of the buyer’s costs. It is a tax you pay to the state when you purchase a (holiday) home. This transfer tax is at 2% for 2023. This percentage only applies in the case you will live there yourself. For other situations, different rates apply

Average percentage costs-to-buyer

To calculate the average percentage of buyer’s costs, we look at notary fees and transfer tax. The notary fees are based on fixed rates that do not vary much and the transfer tax is 2% of the purchase amount of the property. We calculate the average percentage of the buyer’s costs with these two components.

Notary fees are therefore part of the buyer’s costs. As described earlier, the notary helps you in any case with the deed of mortgage, deed of transfer and cadastral registration when buying a property.

Notary fees average between €1,000 and €2,000 for the above notarial tasks. So, for the notary, the average cost is €1,500.

Transfer tax is also part of the buyer’s costs. The transfer tax has the most influence on the number of the buyer’s costs because it is 2% of the purchase amount. So it depends on the purchase amount and how much this will affect the average cost of ownership.

To give an example, we will assume a purchase amount of €350,000 This amount is approximately the average purchase amount in the Netherlands. Below you can see how the average percentage of buyer’s costs is calculated.

So, the average percentage of buyer’s costs if you buy a house of € 350,000 is 2.4%.

Bear in mind that we have used a purchase amount that is considered average in the Netherlands. For example, if you buy a property worth €600,000, your buyer’s costs are already €13,500.

> Read more here if you are looking for a suitable notary in your area

Calculation example of buyer’s costs

Imagine you are buying a house and you have already used the 0% transfer tax scheme once and you are buying a €300,000 house. Then this will roughly be your cost:

Transfer tax exemption

In case you have not taken advantage of this yet, you are allowed to buy a house once without paying transfer tax. This saves considerably on the buyer’s cost as this is the biggest expense anyway. Please note you must not have used it before, you must be between 18 and 35 years of age and the house must not cost more than € 400,000.

Paying buyer costs in instalments?

Since 2018, it is no longer possible to get more than 100% of the house value in the form of a mortgage. So that means you will have to pay the buyer’s costs (k.k) yourself. This money will therefore come out of your pocket. Should you not be able to pay this amount, you can always get a donation.

Anyone can give you an amount in the form of a donation to pay the purchase price, but usually, it will be your parents.  Your parents can donate up to an amount of €28,947 tax-free and abolish on 1 January 2024. However, there are some conditions you have to meet:

• You can use it once.
• You have a period of 2 years during which you can use the gift.
• You must be between 18 and 40 years of age.

Should you make use of this donation, it is intended that this will be spent on the costs of the purchase, among other things.

Buying a house with an additional purchase price (v.o.n.)

As we mentioned above, the asking price of a house is often followed by a notional value (k.k.). It is also possible to see v.o.n., which means “free on the name”, which is also common in new-build properties. You don’t pay any:

• Transfer tax (2%)
• Notary fees for the deed of conveyance
• Cadastral registration costs

However, you will also incur buyer’s costs when buying a freehold property, such as notary fees for drawing up the mortgage deed, mediation, valuation, and any estate agent’s fees.

> Read more about the costs of a buying agent

Buying a house without your own money

Buying a house without your own money is very difficult due to the conditions set for the mortgage application. This is because you are not allowed to borrow more than 100% of the value of the house. This does not include additional costs such as buyer’s costs (k.k.). That means you have to pay these costs yourself.

Tax-free gift

If you have not saved enough money yourself to buy a house, it is possible to receive a tax-free donation from a family member, for example. The amount you may receive for a tax-free donation is set at €28,947 in 2023. As of 1 January 2024, this will be abolished.

Taking out a loan

Another alternative to financing a home without your own money is to take out a loan. This loan is based on your salary and is therefore separate from the mortgage which depends on the value of the home. However, this is not always possible and depends on a number of conditions and varies from bank to bank.