A landlord in Amsterdam has been ordered to pay back tenants more than €50,000 after incorrectly claiming that a shared house was subject to “free market” rent of €4,400 a month.
Instead, a rent tribunal this week reportedly ordered that the rooms as small as nine square metres were worth a fraction of this and has reduced the rents to between €150 to €250 a month.
The city council-funded organisation !Woon – which assists renters and small home owners associations – has urged other tenants at the address, A.J. Ernststraat 727 to come forward. It can assist them in bringing their rental contracts to be tested by tribunal.
“We have heard from a few residents that the landlord is still guilty of charging rental prices that are too high and offering temporary rental contracts, something that is not allowed by law,” said !Woon in a press release.
Dutch tenancies were permanent by default until a new law was brought in in 2015, sparking a wave of amateur private landlords investing in property.
However, a new rent control law which came into effect on July 1, 2024, means that single rooms in shared homes are now subject to strict rules. A points system for rent control has been extended to cover 90% of Dutch rental property up to 186 points. All contracts – apart from in a few special situations – must be permanent, stopping evictions after two years. Annual rent rises are also regulated.
January
Currently, cases can only be judged if tenants go to a rent tribunal but from next January, municipalities will be able to enforce infringements and issue fines to landlords.
Reports this week suggested that although agents – makelaars, in Dutch – are banned from charging both the landlord and the renter for their fees, dubious charges are still being imposed.
Some have been fought through lengthy court action. Change=, a developer and management company which has been ordered to refund tenants five years of incorrect and excessive service charges, will reportedly no longer be active in Amsterdam from next year.
Since July 2023, landlord intimidation and discrimination has also been part of administrative law and municipalities will be setting up enforcement teams from January. !Woon is encouraging more people to report infringements, including when they feature in advertisements on Funda, Kamernet and Pararius or other brokers.
“Expats are [often] seen as a walking wallet,” said Gert Jan Bakker, a consultant on landlord behaviour at !Woon.
