On July 1st 2023, the “Good Landlordship Act” came into effect. We informed our landlords of this last year by writing this blog. By now, most municipalities have fulfilled their duties by setting up a “hotline”. An overview of hotlines can be found on our information page.
The Good Landlordship Act seems a mountain of paperwork
So far, the Good Landlordship Act seems to be more of a mountain of paperwork thrown into the landlords’ and municipalities’ laps, giving them extra administrative tasks, but let’s have faith in the neverending wisdom of the ministry that has created this law. That said, there is still a remaining obligation for landlords with rental agreements from before July 1st 2023. They must inform their tenants of the following:
- The tenant may only use the property in the manner which has been agreed upon with landlord;
- Landlords may only enter the property with permission from tenant (there are a few exceptions to this rule, for example in case of an emergency);
- The different types of rental agreements that can be used, with the accompanying rent and rentprice protection (you can also forward these links to the tenant);
- What the tenant can do in case of damages or defects in/to the property (for this, you can refer them to the overview of the breakdown of costs in case of damages on Rijksoverheid.nl. See also the Gebrekenboek (July 1st 2023) from the Huurcommissie (Rental Committee). Here you’ll find how they usually assess defaults in a property.);
- An overview of cases in which tenant may reach out to the Rental Committee or the District Judge. For this, you can refer them to the overview page on Rijksoverheid.nl;
- If you charge a deposit, you must inform the tenant of:
- the amount of the deposit, to be found in the rental agreement;
- the time frame within which you must repay the deposit, to be found in the rental agreement. Please note that, with the introduction of the Good Landlordship Act, the allowed time frame is as follows: the deposit must be repaid within 14 days of the end of the rental agreement, unless there are amounts to be settled. Then the time frame is extended to 30 days.
- the manner in which the deposit must be repaid.
- Contact information for tenant to ask questions about the property, to be included in the rental agreement. With rental agreements drawn up by Interhouse, this information is already included.
- If you charge service costs, the tenant must be informed of:
- the amount of the service costs, to be included in the rental agreement;
- an annual breakdown of all costs charged to tenant.
- From January 1st 2024, the tenant must also be informed on the contact information of the municipalities’ hotline. Contact the municipality (of the rented property) which information this is, or take a look at our information page for a complete overview.
Inform tenants
Landlords that have a rental agreement in place and have enlisted our property maintenance have it easy; we’ll inform these tenants. For other landlords, all the information above must be provided to tenant.
