The Upper and Lower Houses agreed this week to the bill by Lower House member Henk Nijboer (PvdA) to introduce a maximum rent increase in the free sector of no more than 1% (on top of inflation) for the next three years.

The bill was introduced by Nijboer in June 2020 to better protect tenants, during and after corona time. The new bill affects some 560,000 households in the Netherlands. Some 87,000 of these received rent increases last year that would no longer be allowed within this new bill.

In May 2020, Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren had already proposed a maximum increase of 2.5%. According to Nijboer, however, this was not sufficient. Unlike the social rental sector, no legal limit had been specified for the free sector.

Because of the approval by the Upper and Lower Houses, the minister has no choice but to implement the proposal. In addition to this proposal, other proposals are included. The minister's letter to the House of Representatives shows the following:

• The rents of all social housing in the Netherlands will be frozen this year. From July 1, 2021, it is forbidden to increase the rent of these houses.
• The rent freeze also applies to the income-related rent increase. That's the extra rent increase for "skewed tenants.
• Housing associations and larger landlords (50+ homes) will be partially compensated for the loss of revenue through a reduction in the landlord levy rate (which applies only to landlords with more than 50 social housing units).
• In what ways all other landlords, with less than 50 social housing units owned, will be compensated is still unclear to the minister. This is currently being investigated and will be reported on at a later date

Questions or ambiguities?

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