In the Netherlands, the rules on renting and letting housing have been laid down in a number of laws, decrees and subordinate legislation.
The main ones are:
- The Dutch Civil Code, the main source of tenancy rights;
- The Dutch Residential Tenancies Rents (Implementation) Act, with specific rent price rules;
- The Dutch Residential Tenancies (Rent) Decree, with guidelines for assessing the fairness of rents or rent changes (rent increase) of housing, and with the housing valuation system (rent points system for calculating the maximum rent for a home);
- The Dutch Residential Tenancies (Rent) Implementation Regulation, including the maximum rent increase percentages and the maximum rents;
- The Dutch Fluidity Rental Housing Market (Measures to Facilitate Movement) Act 2015, which introduced, among other things, various additional temporary rental contracts into the Dutch Civil Code with effect from July 1st 2016.
Rent Assessment Committee
The Rent Tribunal deals with disputes about rent, service costs, costs for utilities of self-contained accommodation (houses, flats), shared accommodation, caravans and caravan sites. This relates to social housing (regulated tenancy agreement) of both housing associations and private landlords. The Rent Tribunal also deals with rent and service charges disputes in the case of deregulated sector residences (liberalised tenancy agreement) if the tenant and the landlord have agreed to that (in their tenancy agreement or on a later date). More information about the tasks and working methods of the Rent Tribunal can be found on website of the Rent Tribunal.