Think the costs of living in the Netherlands are high? Well, with the current (crazy!) inflation it’s not just your energy bills that are increasing. A serious surge in rents is threatening the Dutch free sector.
According to current regulations, rents are allowed to increase with inflation plus 1%. The Dutch housing association Woonbond wants to see that rule changed as tenants in the free sector are otherwise facing serious financial losses, writes RTL Nieuws.
Thankfully, the Dutch cabinet is in favour of amending the current rent regulations. So, what’s on the table?
Last year’s law, this year’s problem
In 2021, the Dutch government passed a law saying that rent increases in the free sector could not exceed the previous year’s inflation plus 1%. The idea was to protect tenants from outrageous price jumps.
But does anything ever work out as planned?
Not when it comes to the Dutch housing market it seems. 🙃 With the current inflation, tenants may need to seriously reconsider their budget when facing their 2023 rent payments.
The harsh reality? Depending on your current rent, you could be paying hundreds of euros more per month next year.
The Woonbond takes action
Yesterday, the Woonbond (who represents the interests of renters in the Netherlands) sent a letter to the House of Representatives asking the Dutch government to reconsider the law — and preferably fast.
“Continuing with the current rental policy in 2023 is not an option. This will get tenants into trouble. A rent freeze is a good step to help tenants and gives them time to think about future rental policy,” says the Woonbond.
The association suggests cutting the ties between rent increases and inflation. Instead, they propose linking rent increases to the average increase in wages. 📈
The Dutch cabinet supports an amendment
Yesterday, the Ministry of Interior announced that they’re working on amending the law. The new system would essentially work the same as in the social sector: allowing Hugo de Jonge (Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning) to determine the maximum rent increase every year.
What do you think of the suggested amendment? Tell us in the comments below!
Price control doesn’t work, has never worked and will never will.
They have to increase supply of available homes to contain the price.
Increasing supply will never be a solution either. In any desirable place on earth, the increase in the number of houses can not keep up with the increase in the number of people. You build 10 new houses, you will have 20 new people battling to live in them,
You build 100 new houses, you will have 200 new people battling to live in them, etc.
Housing shortages is just something we need to accept – as it will naturally always exist.
The only places that do not have a housing shortage are called shitholes, because no one wants to live there.
The shortage that we are currently living wasn’t always a thing. It is purely caused by the manipulated interest rates to get cheap credit mixed the exaggerated regulations to build.
It is NOT NATURALLY happening.
There is a shortage of affordable housing. The market is saturated with greed and corruption. There are many empty apartments & homes because people cannot afford the high rent. Rents must go down and the government must take more control. If peoples wages ate not going up rent should not increase. There is a solution to everything. Population is not the problem. Greed is the problem.