Landlords are subject to a number of laws designed to prevent tenants from being exploited. Not all landlords comply with these laws. Everyone has heard stories about bad landlords/slum landlords, and of course you don’t want to be a victim of this yourself. So make sure you know what a slum landlord is and what you can do about it.
How do you recognise a slumlord?
Of course, you cannot immediately tell whether a landlord is a good landlord or not. However, there are many things that landlords can do that should raise a red flag, such as:
- Overdue maintenance in the house
- High rents
- Unclear contracts
- Notice period of less than three months for the landlord
- Requests for administration costs/key money
- Rent and service costs not broken down
- Entering your room unannounced
- Turning off the heating if consumption is too high
My landlord wants to increase my rent without reason; is that allowed?
A rented room always falls under regulated rent, which is governed by the Rent Assessment Committee. The rent may only be increased once a year during the contract period by a fixed percentage set by the government, which almost always comes in July. But only if this is communicated to the tenant in writing two months in advance. For information about rental contracts:
This page contains important information about your rental contract. This includes your rights and obligations as a tenant of the room. If the information you are looking for is not there, or if something does not apply to your contract, please take a look at our page on types of rental contracts.
Example: a student rents a room in a student house. In June 2019, the landlord informs the student that the rent will be increased in July. The student calculates that the increase amounts to 7%. This is not allowed, because the maximum permitted rent increase for rooms has been set by the government at 4.1% from 1 July 2020. For self-contained dwellings, this is 5.1% to a maximum of 6.1%, depending on your income.
What can you do about it?
In most cases, it is best to first discuss the matter with the landlord. If this does not yield any results, you can contact a rent team and a legal aid centre for legal assistance. They can help with advice and guidance to reach an agreement with your landlord or to file a case with the rent assessment committee. Once the rent assessment committee has ruled on a case, the outcome is binding. However, an appeal can be lodged with the subdistrict court.
Do you think you are paying too much rent? In the Netherlands, a points system is used to determine the maximum price of your home. Unfortunately, many landlords charge more for a room than they are actually allowed to. Would you like to know if you are paying too much rent? Then do the check. If you disagree with your rent, you can go to the rent assessment committee to have your rent reduced. For advice on reducing your rent, please contact your local rent team.