On 1 July 2024, an important law in the field of renting came into force: the Affordable Rent Act. The aim of this new law is to create more affordable rental properties, with rents that are proportionate to the quality of the property. Below you will find an overview of the main consequences of this law.

Expansion of the points system with a new rental segment

Before the Affordable Rent Act came into force, tenancy law for residential properties had two sectors: liberalised (private sector) and non-liberalised (also known as social housing). Landlords of social housing must take into account a points system from the Housing Valuation System (WWS) when setting the rent: the higher the quality, the higher the number of points, and the higher the permitted rent. Points are awarded on the basis of characteristics such as an energy label, surface area and/or the presence of a garden or balcony. A social housing property has a maximum of 143 points, which as of 1 July 2024 equates to a maximum rent of €879.66. This amount also corresponded to the liberalisation threshold: rental properties with more than 143 points fell into the “free sector”. In that sector, tenants and landlords are in principle free to agree on the rent themselves. However, in a tight market, landlords had too much power, which drove up rents and resulted in too few “affordable” rental properties on the market, according to the legislator.

In order to create more affordable housing, the Affordable Rent Act introduced a third sector: the “mid-rent” sector. These are properties with 144 to 186 points. For a property with 186 points, the maximum rent will be €1,157.95. As a result, the liberalisation threshold has also been raised: from now on, properties with 187 points or more will fall into the private sector, for which there is no maximum rent.

Rent protection for tenants who fall into the new mid-range segment has been significantly expanded. Previously, this group of tenants (because they fell into the private sector) could only have the Rent Assessment Committee assess whether the agreed rent did indeed correspond to the number of points the property earned up to a maximum of six months after the start of the tenancy agreement. Under the new law, tenants can always ask the Rent Assessment Committee to rule on the level of the rent (with some exceptions). The tenant must first submit a written proposal for a rent reduction to the landlord at least two months before the change is due to take effect. This reduction proposal must comply with the requirements of the law, including the attachment of a calculation of the quality of the living space. If the landlord does not agree, the tenant has until six weeks after the planned effective date of the reduction to involve the Rent Assessment Committee.

Mandatory compliance and duty to provide information

These legislative changes are mandatory. For all tenancy agreements concluded after 1 July 2024, the landlord must therefore comply with the new rules, regardless of what is stated in the tenancy agreement itself. The landlord must also proactively inform the tenant: as of 1 January 2025, the tenant must receive an overview of how many points the property has (according to the landlord) when concluding the tenancy agreement. The idea is that this will make it easier for the tenant to check.

Transitional law

An important question is what this new law means for existing tenancy agreements, i.e. those that came into effect before 1 July 2024. The following applies in this regard:

• If the rent at the start of the tenancy agreement was higher than the liberalisation threshold applicable at the time, but the property turns out to have 143 points or less, the rent must be adjusted downwards as of 1 July 2025 based on the number of points.
• If the property has 144 points or more, the new law does not apply. Insofar as tenants in this group belong to the middle segment (up to and including 186 points), the maximum rent only becomes mandatory when a new tenancy agreement is entered into.

For more information on this subject or for other questions about tenancy law, please contact Demi Herveille (d.herveille@paulussen.nl) or Philip Nijbakker (p.nijbakker@paulussen.nl). We work from both our office in Heerlen and our office in Maastricht.

Nieuws Overzicht