{"id":722607,"date":"2024-12-06T12:10:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T11:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/huurverhoging-na-2024\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T11:27:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T10:27:58","slug":"rent-increases-after-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/rent-increases-after-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Rent increases after 2024, a subject that requires in-depth study"},"content":{"rendered":"

A striking<\/span> example of overregulation? I\u2019ve listed below <\/span>several<\/span> factors that affect rent <\/span>increases<\/span> on residential properties in the three rental se<\/span>ctor<\/span>s <\/span>we<\/span> now <\/span>have in the Netherlands<\/span>. We <\/span>need to <\/span>take into <\/span>consider<\/span>ation<\/span>: <\/span>the <\/span>Europe<\/span>an directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts<\/span>, <\/span>the Good Landlord Act<\/span>, indexat<\/span>ion<\/span>, <\/span>the negotiated wages index <\/span>(Statistics Netherlands)<\/span>, <\/span>government <\/span>ministries, <\/span>the Affordable Rent Act<\/span>, <\/span>the start date of the tenancy agreement<\/span>, <\/span>the initial rent and the tenant\u2019s income<\/span>. <\/span>The process<\/span> apparently couldn\u2019t be <\/span>made any easi<\/span>er<\/span>. <\/span>While the legislator undoubtedly means well<\/span>, <\/span>many people<\/span> will<\/span> simply find it impossible to <\/span>implement these intentions<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The old situation<\/span><\/h2>\n

Until recently, it wasn\u2019t all that complicated<\/span>. <\/span>There were two sectors:<\/span> the<\/span> social sector <\/span>and the deregulated<\/span> sector. <\/span>For the<\/span> social sector <\/span>(<\/span>now the low segment<\/span>)<\/span>,<\/span> the <\/span>M<\/span>inistry<\/span> of Housing <\/span>and Spatial Planning <\/span>set a <\/span>(maximum) <\/span>permitted <\/span>percentage <\/span>for raising<\/span> the basic rent each year<\/span>. <\/span>There were virtually no rules for the <\/span>deregulated<\/span> sector <\/span>(<\/span>now the mid and high segment<\/span>s<\/span>)<\/span>;<\/span> the emphasis was on freedom of <\/span>contract<\/span> and tenant<\/span>s<\/span> and landlord<\/span>s<\/span> were able to agree their own method for <\/span>rai<\/span>sing the rent no more than once a year<\/span>. <\/span>Th<\/span>is<\/span> rent increase was often based on the rate of inflation<\/span>. Som<\/span>etimes an additional or fixed rate was agreed<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Legal<\/span>ly permitted<\/span> maximum <\/span><\/h3>\n

Firstly<\/span> because of the Coronavirus crisis and later the high rate of inflation, the legislator decided it was important to set a maximum permitted rent increase for the deregulated <\/span>sector. <\/span>All with the best of intentions<\/span>, <\/span>because a permitted rent increase of over <\/span>10% <\/span>sounds<\/span> absurd. <\/span>You could counter that by pointing out that <\/span>it also costs a great deal more to <\/span>manag<\/span>e<\/span> rental properties<\/span>, <\/span>but I understand the government\u2019s wish to set a limit <\/span>for permitted rent increases. Whatever the case, the government decided that rent increases in the deregulated <\/span>sector <\/span>weren\u2019t permitted to exceed the rate of inflation<\/span>. <\/span>This temporary regulation has now been extended and continues to apply to the deregulated<\/span> sector. <\/span>The calculation method for the <\/span>maximum <\/span>has been adjusted somewhat, however, on which more below<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Europ<\/span>e<\/span><\/h3>\n

The next <\/span>major<\/span> change to rent increases came from an unexpected quarter<\/span>. <\/span>Lawyers <\/span>concluded<\/span> that the <\/span>Europe<\/span>an directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts <\/span>(<\/span>the<\/span> so-called <\/span>\u2018<\/span>blue list<\/span>\u2019<\/span>) <\/span>also applies to tenancy agreements<\/span>. We<\/span>\u2019ve already written a blog<\/a> on this<\/span>. In princip<\/span>l<\/span>e<\/span>, <\/span>it<\/span> only applies if the tenant can be <\/span>class<\/span>ed as a consumer and the <\/span>landlord is a professional<\/span>. <\/span>In brief, the directive <\/span>stipulates<\/span> that rent increase <\/span>terms<\/span> may be unfair under certain conditions<\/span>, <\/span>for example if the <\/span>percentage <\/span>is extremely high or unclear<\/span>. <\/span>Basically<\/span>,<\/span> if it favours the landlord too much<\/span>. <\/span>Under <\/span>the directive, <\/span>t<\/span>he effect of an unfair <\/span>term<\/span> is<\/span> that <\/span>it<\/span> is void <\/span>(<\/span>i.e. should never have been permitted<\/span>). <\/span>The <\/span>Dutch <\/span>Supreme Court ruled on <\/span>29 <\/span>N<\/span>ovember <\/span>that rent increase <\/span>terms<\/span> at the rate of inflation <\/span>+ <\/span>a <\/span>maxim<\/span>um of<\/span> 3% <\/span>are<\/span>n\u2019t in <\/span>themselves<\/span> unfair<\/span>. <\/span>This will come as a huge relief for many <\/span>(<\/span>large<\/span>) <\/span>landlords<\/span>, <\/span>as a strict interpretation of this directive could have resulted in <\/span>the reimbursement of <\/span>billions<\/span> of euros<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Affordable Rent Act<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Affordable Rent Act<\/a> came into effect i<\/span>n <\/span>July<\/span> 2024<\/span>, although it\u2019s better known as the \u2018unaffordable rent act\u2019<\/span>. <\/span>This act has <\/span>further complicated<\/span> rent increases as an additional <\/span>sector<\/span>has been created<\/span>, namel<\/span>y mid-segment rentals<\/span>. <\/span>And believe it or not<\/span>,<\/span> those drafting the legislation<\/span> decided <\/span>yet <\/span>a<\/span>nother,<\/span> different rent increase method was needed for mid-segment rentals<\/span>. <\/span>You now need to <\/span>make an in-depth study of<\/span> the subject, and I mean that literally, to understand how to <\/span>raise<\/span> the rent on a property<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ho<\/span>w do I calculate the rent increase on my le<\/span>t<\/span> property<\/span>? <\/span><\/h2>\n

We get asked this question a lot and I\u2019ll <\/span>do my best<\/span> to formulate an answer<\/span>: <\/span><\/p>\n

Start by examining which of the three se<\/span>ctor<\/span>s the <\/span>let<\/span> property comes under<\/span>. <\/span>You can see this from the initial rent<\/span> but remember that mid-segment rentals didn\u2019t exist prior to <\/span>1 <\/span>J<\/span>ul<\/span>y<\/span> 2024, <\/span>so even if the rent is currently classed as<\/span> a<\/span> mid-segment<\/span> rental<\/span>, if the property was let before<\/span>1 <\/span>July<\/span> 2024<\/span>,<\/span> it can never be in the mid-<\/span>segment <\/span>rental<\/span>s<\/span> sector<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, it\u2019s still <\/span>pretty<\/span> simple<\/span> in <\/span>the<\/span> social <\/span>sector<\/span> as the <\/span>percentage <\/span>set by the<\/span> government applies<\/span>. <\/span>This is published annually by the ministry for the entire year<\/span>. <\/span>It\u2019s true that there are many additional measures to combat situations in which people live in a rental property<\/span> even though their income is too high for it <\/span>etc. <\/span>Yet these don\u2019t necessarily need to be applied<\/span>. <\/span>This <\/span>percentage <\/span>is no longer set on <\/span>1 <\/span>July but on<\/span> J<\/span>anuar<\/span>y 1<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>the mid-segment rentals sector<\/span> the government sets a <\/span>maximum percentage <\/span>based on average negotiated wage<\/span>s<\/span> growth<\/span>. <\/span>Remember that this a<\/span> maximum percentage. <\/span>The <\/span>method <\/span>laid down in the tenancy agreement determines the rent increase<\/span>,<\/span> but <\/span>this<\/span> may never exceed the legal<\/span>ly permitted<\/span> maximum. <\/span>Incidentally, this is <\/span>arranged <\/span>different<\/span>ly again<\/span> in the <\/span>Interhouse model<\/span> agreement as <\/span>in this case<\/span> the <\/span>percentage <\/span>set by the government always applies as the rent increase <\/span>percentage. <\/span><\/p>\n

That just leaves <\/span>the high <\/span>segment<\/span>, <\/span>also known as the deregulated <\/span>sector. <\/span>The same regulation largely applies here as in <\/span>the <\/span>mid-segment rental<\/span>s<\/span> s<\/span>ector<\/span>. <\/span>Except that here<\/span> the rate is determined using a different method: it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>either<\/span> based on the rate of inflation <\/span>or<\/span> on average negotiated wage<\/span>s<\/span> growth<\/span>. <\/span>The<\/span> lowest of these two rates is taken as the<\/span> applicable<\/span> maximum permitted rent increase<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Did<\/span> you follow all that<\/span>? <\/span>Then you\u2019re an exception to the rule as the average landlord <\/span>no longer has a <\/span>clue<\/span>. We<\/span>\u2019ve even seen lawyers get it wrong<\/span>. <\/span>And, incredibly, the <\/span>central government and rent assessment committee websites contained erro<\/span>neous information<\/span> for a long time<\/span>. <\/span>It\u2019s extraordinary how intentions and practical application can be so far removed from each other and have such far-reaching repercussions as well<\/span>. <\/span>I\u2019m happy to say<\/span>, however,<\/span> that our employees have receive<\/span>d<\/span> thorough training and know how to apply the rent increase correctly, although it\u2019s far from easy<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A striking example of overregulation? I\u2019ve listed below several factors that affect rent increases on residential properties in the three rental sectors we now have in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":721698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3705,692,691],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-722607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiscal","category-letting","category-renting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722607"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912616,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722607\/revisions\/912616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}