There are great deals of things to think about when you lease lodging. This includes making certain you are not paying too much in regards to lease, a deposit or service costs. The Landlords (Good Practices) Act entered force on 1 July 2023. This act presented brand-new guidelines and upgraded some old rules. It is very important to understand your rights and commitments. So follow this detailed strategy when you lease accommodation.

Step 1: examine how much the rent, deposit, service costs and mediation costs are

Rent

Check whether the accommodation you wish to rent is classed as social housing or if it is private-sector rental. This is an essential difference, because different rights and responsibilities use to each type. If you are going to be leasing accommodation in 2024 and the standard rent is EUR879.66 or less, the accommodation is considered to be social housing. Social housing has a rent ceiling, which is computed using a points system. If you lease accommodation in 2024 and the standard rent is above EUR879.66, the accommodation is thought about to be a private-sector leasing. There is no lease ceiling for private-sector lodging.

Check whether the rent matches the quality of the lodging by running the Rent Check.

Rent Check self-contained accommodations Rent Check shared lodgings

If you are paying excessive, ask your property owner to lower the rent. If you can’t reach a contract with your property owner, call the rent tribunal (Huurcommissie).

Please note: if you are living in a private-sector rental, ask the rent tribunal to assess your beginning rent within 6 months of your very first payment. If you live in social housing, you can ask the rent tribunal to examine the lease you are paying at any time.

In some towns, landlords need a rental license to be able to rent accommodation. Conditions may be connected to the authorization, such as how much the lease can be. If this is the case, you can also ask the municipality to assess your lease.

Deposit

For occupancy agreements dated 1 July 2023 onwards, the optimum deposit a landlord can charge is two months’ fundamental lease. When the occupancy arrangement has ended, you will in concept get your deposit back within 14 days. But if you still owe your proprietor cash, they can subtract this from your deposit. In that case they should pay back the remaining deposit within 30 days.

Your proprietor can just withhold your deposit to cover the following:

- unpaid rent