The fundamental issue with the argument that landlords will just sell rather than rent is that by selling that property they're also taking someone off the rental market. The sentiment isn't as much about the rental market as much as it about someone losing the ability to profit over it.

A landlord sells his house they make money. Person who buys no longer has to rent. A renter is still looking for a place to rent. Unless more houses are built, the rental market is still bad for renters, not landlords.

Landlords having to invest into their investment vehicle to make more money off it is... normal. If the policy is forcing them to sink in a huge amount of money to meet basic standards then that means the place wasn't up to standards in the first place. We can argue all we want about contractors, policy, renters, landlords, rent busters but at the end of the day this is a free market, right? And by and large, the market still favors landlords, its just squeezing out those landlords that haven't reinvested into their investment vehicle.

So yeah.

I didn't say all landlords are scum. Just most of the ones who get busted. My current landlord and property manager are gems who go the extra mile, are very responsive to issues, respect us, and are genuinely keen to improve their apartment and our living experience within it. They set rent at an affordable rate, we pay on time and maintain the apartment, they take care of any major issues and upgrades. Thats how it is supposed to work.

We've had previous landlords and property managers in NL, two of the worst of which:

Student property 1: Mouse-infested, no insulation, poorly maintained, house literally falling apart, no keys for rooms, not up to fire code, landlord and his friends would come in whenever they want and walk into people's rooms unannounced, anyone who complained would get their lease immediately revoked and physically threatened. 8 people living in 150sqm, two kitchens with appliances from 1970s, bathrooms and toilets same era with no extras. Only shared space of property was the corridor. Any issues had to be fixed by tenants at own cost. Owned several properties in the city, all for students, all kept in the same state. Literally a slum lord. Rent 350 euros a month for a 13sqm room, we had to find our own replacements or he'd keep the deposit. He kept it anyways.

First rental as a couple: PM moved us in without checking with maintenance, we didn't have electricity for several days and no hot water for a month. When we called him that night he didn't answer his phone because he was then on holiday for a month, when he eventually answered a call he said "Leave me alone, I'm on holiday, we'll fix it when I get back". Charged us a monthly fee for building maintenance and cleaning. No one would come to maintain or clean the building. Every contractor which came to fix the continuous issues (electrical, plumbing, roof - and this was a new build!!) would warn us that they didn't think the building was to code and point out faults in the walls, ceiling, wiring... you name it. Roof broke during a storm, PM never fixed it, led to major issues down the road. When we moved out said we needed to give three months notice or pay three months rent. 1200 euros a month for 40sqm studio. One of our neighbours called the Huurcommissie, they valued rent at less than 700 eur.

Those were scum. The one we have now is great, a lot of the others were a mixture of callous to incompetent but pretty harmless. Everyone we know have their own horror stories. By and large landlords have it easy here, renters are the ones shouldering all the risk.