Fewer square metres than on Funda: what to look into first

The listing gives a floor area you do not recognise in the house. Or the valuer arrives at a different number of square metres. Put the sales information and the measurement report side by side. Check whether both figures are about woonoppervlakte, the living floor area, and which rooms have been counted. Only once you know that can you judge whether there is a measurement error.

The Radar broadcast of 31 August 2026 showed how edited photos can make a home look larger. The stated dimensions may be correct all the same. The reverse happens too: the photo shows the space accurately and the floor area is stated wrongly. If you have doubts about the images, the checks in AI photos on Funda will help.

Not every square metre is living floor area

A home has several distinct floor areas. A shed, a balcony and a living room do not belong to the same figure.

An attic furnished as a bedroom does not count as living floor area on the strength of that furnishing. Height, access and daylight are among the things that decide the classification under the measuring instruction. The floor under a sloping roof is not counted the same way everywhere either.

So ask which parts of the attic sit in which category. You do not have to work through the measuring instruction yourself to be able to ask what the stated area is made up of.

Ask for a report with the breakdown

Ask the estate agent for the measurement report, the method used and the floor plan the measurement is based on. Look at the area per storey and the split between living space and the other categories. NVM agents are required to use the industry-wide measuring instruction.

Check too that the documents are about the house as it is now. If an extension was added later or an attic converted, ask whether that is reflected in the measurement. Keep the listing and the report you received together.

A figure from the BAG, the national register of buildings and addresses, is not automatically the same as the living floor area in a sales listing. The measuring instruction explains that the register and the sales information use different breakdowns. So where there is a difference, first ask whether the same area is being compared.

Have an unexplained difference measured again

If the explanation gets you no further, have an expert measure again to the same industry-wide instruction. Ask for a report setting out which rooms have been classified or measured differently. That lets you put the difference to the agent specifically.

Multiplying the length and width of the rooms does not produce a comparable measurement report. The instruction also contains rules for walls, stairs and how rooms are classified.

If you are still before your offer, use the correct area to reconsider whether the house suits you and what you want to pay for it. Comparable sales help more with that than the asking price per square metre alone. That is worked through in what is a house worth.

If you have already bought

Send the agent the differing measurements and ask for an explanation. Keep what you received before the purchase as well. You can then see which area was presented to you at the time and what you asked about it.

A measurement error can be grounds for a complaint about the agent. In a published case, the Tuchtcommissie Vastgoedprofessionals, the disciplinary committee for property professionals, reprimanded a selling agent who could not support the area she had given with a measurement to the instruction, and who did not supply a report she had promised.

A ruling like that about the agent's conduct is a different thing from a decision about compensation to you. The disciplinary committee does not award damages. If you want money back or want to attach consequences to the purchase, have a lawyer assess the sales information, the measurements and your purchase agreement. Ask what you can claim in your case, from whom, and which steps that takes. So do not let the outcome rest on a sum involving the missing metres alone.

The route for reporting the error and for a complaint is in complaining about an estate agent.

What to do now

• Save the listing and ask for the measurement report with the breakdown.
• Check that the two figures are about the same area and the same state of the house.
• Have an unexplained difference measured again by the same method and put the outcome in writing.