To the happy surprise of several renters, an 87-year-old woman from Limburg has left most of her rental properties in Vaals to her tenants in her last will and testament.

Up to 16 rental homes in the Netherlands gifted to tenants by landlady 

The landlady, Anneliese Houppermans, was a successful entrepreneur with a fruit and vegetable business who owned a number of houses in the small city in Limburg. She had never been married and had no children or close family.

The notary in charge of Houppermans’ estate has been notifying tenants that she has given them the rental homes they are staying in in her will. “I hear she may have had up to 16 properties and had no direct family. They are all going to the tenants,” said one of the tenants turned homeowners, Bram Brekelmans to De Telegraaf. “It’s mindboggling… The whole village is buzzing with it” 

"Heartwarming" deed done by Dutch landlady

Dutch landlady, Houppermans, was not only generous in her will but also in life. Brekelmans sold his house to her after his divorce four years ago and Houppermans allowed the father of two to stay on and rent the house from her. 

“I met her just the once so we didn’t really know each other at all. And then to be given it,” said Brekelmans. “That there are such people in a world where you have to be brazen to get ahead is heartwarming.”

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