Private landlords sold more homes than they bought in the run up to new legislation which extended the rent control system to cover most Dutch housing, although the numbers are still relatively small.

Figures from the land registry office Kadaster show that investors and private landlords sold 6,400 properties more properties than they bought in the second quarter of the year.

In total, sales reached 12,000, of which 5,900 were sold to people who planned to live in them and the rest went to other landlords. In particular, landlords are selling off more cheaper property, the Kadaster figures show.

Real estate investors and developers had warned that private landlords would sell property because of the new rules, which will sharply reduce rents on smaller homes in particular.

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“This will happen gradually over the next two years, when the last temporary rental contracts expire and private landlords can sell off their properties,” Kadaster spokesman Paul de Vries told the Volkskrant.

The previous government also scrapped two-year rental contracts in an effort to boost tenant protection and stop landlords putting up prices sharply for every new contract.

According to the Telegraaf, landlords are also doing more to try to get rid of their tenants so they can sell the property empty, in some cases offering them up to €20,000 to quit.

“I get calls every week from landlords who want to get rid of a property and want to know their options,” lawyer Jari Scheepers from Reijnders Advocaten told the paper. “Usually I have to disappoint them. If the tenant [with a permanent contract] behaves well and pays the rent on time, then they can stay where they are.”

Private investors owned some 767,000 properties at the end of the second quarter, or 9.5% of the Dutch housing stock. The Kadaster figures do not include new rental property developments, which have boosted the number of rental properties overhaul.