In the almost 30 years that Interhouse has been around, we\u2019ve heard it all. Myths, misconceptions and stubborn misunderstandings about letting a property. Some myths come from landlords, others from tenants, and some are even spread by the media. Let\u2019s clear up a few of the most common ones.<\/p>\n
Nonsense. This myth likely came about because tenants of holiday homes or short-stay rentals don\u2019t build up rent protection. But anyone renting regular residential accommodation in the Netherlands is entitled to full rent protection \u2014 regardless of whether furniture is included or not. The same goes for the rental term: a tenant has rent protection from day one of a regular tenancy agreement, not just after two years as some believe.<\/p>\n
A persistent myth, reinforced by various media outlets. On 1 July 2024,\u00a0the Fixed-Term Tenancy Act<\/a>\u00a0came into force. This limits the use of the \u2018classic\u2019 fixed-term contract but certainly does not abolish it. Under certain conditions it is often still possible to let your property temporarily. For example, there\u2019s the story of\u00a0Tom and Esm\u00e9e<\/a>, who wanted to travel abroad temporarily. Want to know more about temporary letting? Read our\u00a0full blog on the topic<\/a>.<\/p>\n We hear this one often. There are indeed various proposals regarding the future of box 3, but very few have been finalised. It is possible that capital gains tax will be introduced on the increased value of a second home \u2014 most likely based on annual increases in the WOZ (property value). But as these are just proposals for now, there\u2019s no certainty yet.<\/p>\n If a tenant hasn\u2019t cleaned the property before moving out, they must first be given another opportunity to clean it. If they fail to do so (within a reasonable time), a cleaning service can be hired. The costs for the service can then be deducted from the deposit \u2014 but only the actual cleaning costs, not the entire deposit if it exceeds that amount.<\/p>\n We hear this one a lot, too often in fact. In reality, rent increases in the free sector are more complex than just the one percentage. The 4.1% is a legal maximum for 2025, not an automatic rent increase. The actual increase depends mainly on what is agreed in the tenancy agreement. Want to know exactly what applies to your situation? Read our\u00a0detailed blog on rent increases<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not true. A landlord can terminate an indefinite tenancy, as long as the possibility is not excluded in the rental contract. The landlord, however, must have a valid legal reason to do so successfully. These valid grounds are set out in law and were expanded as of 1 July 2024. Of course, if landlord and tenant agree to end the contract, they can do so at any time, without grounds.<\/p>\n According to Dutch law, a tenancy agreement does not have to be in writing to be valid \u2014 a written note on a coaster or even an oral agreement can be legally binding. Since the introduction of the\u00a0Good Landlordship Act<\/a>, there is an obligation to put the agreement in writing (digitally is also allowed). But this does not affect the legal validity of a verbal agreement. We covered this in an\u00a0earlier blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n In principle, this is true: the actual rental income is not immediately taxed. However, the value of the property is taxed under the box 3 capital gains regime. In recent years, this tax has increased so significantly that many landlords would actually be better off if rental income were taxed instead of the property value. This is by far the main reason many landlords feel forced to sell their rental property. Want to know how this works? Read\u00a0this blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not true. A landlord and tenant are free to agree that the tenant cannot terminate the tenancy during a certain initial period. For some contract types, termination is only possible at the end of the agreed term. Such a \u2018fixed term\u2019 where termination is not allowed is quite common \u2014 for example, in the first 12 months. It\u2019s important to mentioned that, for a fixed-term tenancy agreement of up to two years (for independent accommodation), it is prohibited by law to include a fixed period that cannot be terminated.<\/p>\n Not anymore! Interhouse now offers various property-related services. For example, we have already sold over 150 properties \u2014 clear proof that our expansion beyond just letting is real. And this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n Myths and misconceptions about letting a property are everywhere \u2014 but the right knowledge helps you move forward. Knowing the facts will help to avoid problems and stay in control of your situation as a landlord. Want to be sure you\u2019re on the right track, or do you have specific questions about letting your property? Our agents are always happy to help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the almost 30 years that Interhouse has been around, we\u2019ve heard it all. Myths, misconceptions and stubborn misunderstandings about letting a property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":890045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859047","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=859047"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":911325,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859047\/revisions\/911325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/interhouse.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Myth: Starting 2027, I\u2019ll have to pay tax in box 3 on the increased value of my rental or second property<\/h2>\n
Myth: If the tenant doesn\u2019t clean the property before moving out, you can withhold the entire deposit<\/h2>\n
Myth: The rent increase for the free sector is 4.1% in 2025<\/h2>\n
Myth: A landlord cannot terminate an indefinite tenancy<\/h2>\n
Myth: You\u2019re only legally bound after you\u2019ve signed<\/h2>\n
Myth: Rental income is tax-free \u2014 easy money!<\/h2>\n
Myth: A tenant can always terminate the contract<\/h2>\n
Myth: Interhouse is only a letting agent<\/h2>\n
Clear facts<\/h2>\n