Tenants and Woonbond in action against exorbitant rents
The Woonbond is taking up the fight against usurious rents with a new campaign. The huge growth of the free rental sector has led to exorbitant rents. This has left tenants and house seekers with their backs against the wall, which is why the free sector needs to be regulated.
In six years, the private free rented sector grew by 96%, almost doubling. Especially in the expensive segment above €1,000, the increase was huge. Zeno Winkels, director of the Woonbond: “Due to the shortage of social rental housing and the fact that a house for sale has become unattainable for many people, house hunters often have no choice but to pay a sky-high rent in the free sector. A rent that is exorbitant to the quality of the home.”
The Council of Ministers today adopted Minister Hugo de Jonge’s Affordable Rent Bill. This law partly regulates the free sector, but does not go far enough to solve the problems. The Woonbond wants a larger part of the free sector to be regulated by extending the points system to 250 points. It should also apply to existing rental contracts instead of just new ones. Read full article in Dutch…
Received rent reduction from your corporation?
Tens of thousands of housing association tenants with a low income and a rent above 575 euros received rent reductions this year. Because a lower rent also means that your rent allowance has to be adjusted, the legislator decided that housing corporations have to report the reduced rent to the Tax Administration’s Benefits Service. To avoid tenants having to deal with a recovery later.
Important: if you get a rent reduction, you always improve. You may be entitled to slightly less allowance, but this never negates your rent reduction. Read full article in Dutch…
Shortage of rental homes free sector rising fast
The cabinet has no plans to change its rental plans for the time being, even though the number of available rental houses in the free sector is rapidly decreasing. Property developers, investors and landlords say the new cabinet plans are counterproductive: fewer, rather than more, rental houses will come on the market.
But Housing and Spatial Planning Minister De Jonge disagrees. “I understand the concerns about the dip in construction, but we disagree on a number of points,” he said. He thinks the falling number of rental properties in the freehold sector is partly due to high interest rates. This makes it too expensive for investors to start new construction projects. Read full article in Dutch