Cancellation costs for rental mediation before the rental contract has been signed

Questioner

I have been looking for a rental property for some time and after viewing an apartment I indicated my interest by email to the real estate agent concerned. In response to this, a deposit of €500 was requested to confirm my interest, which the real estate agent called 'reservation costs'. In the same email, the real estate agent said that my file would only be forwarded to the landlord once payment had been received. So I had no chance of getting the property if I did not make this deposit. The real estate agent also indicated that the €500 would be charged as 'cancellation costs' if I withdrew my interest after transferring this deposit. I transferred the €500 to confirm my interest, note that at that time I only had basic information about the apartment at my disposal (start date, rental price incl./excl., duration of the rental contract (2 years), and the size of the deposit). In my opinion, we are still in the negotiation phase and have not yet reached an agreement, since I have only confirmed my interest and have not yet been able to view the rental agreement/contract. 10 days later I received the full rental contract by e-mail, which contains a number of points that I do not like. For this reason, I withdrew my interest. In response, the agent charged the €500 cancellation fee. Can the broker actually ask for these cancellation costs? As a tenant, I was obliged to take on these possible cancellation costs if I wanted to have any chance of getting the property, but at the time of the down payment I did not have enough information at my disposal to actually come to an agreement. In my opinion, what the broker calls 'cancellation costs' in this construction are simply disguised brokerage costs, which are prohibited according to 7:427 BW jo. article 7:417, fourth paragraph, BW. Potentially relevant court rulings: https://www.acm.nl/sites/default/files/documents/2020-01/last-duinzigt-voor-rekenen-van-verboden-bemiddelingkosten.pdf https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inziendocument?id=ECLI:NL:RBROT:2015:7843 I thank you for your time.

Lawyer

I think you are right when you say that there was no legally valid (and therefore enforceable) rental agreement. However, for whom does the broker work? Are you registered there as a home seeker? And has the broker actually incurred costs for you, such as making an appointment for a viewing, drawing up a contract? If not, then you must reclaim the costs, there is no consideration and they are indeed disguised.