Since 1 January 2024, every municipality in the Netherlands is required to have a reporting office for ‘landlords good practices’ (‘goed verhuurderschap’), so that tenants and those in search of housing can report landlords or letting agencies who don’t follow the law of the same name, which deals with intimidation, discrimination and (exorbitant) costs. The municipality then has the power to enforce the law through warnings and fines, which can range up to tens of thousands of euros.
Fewer people than expected have made use of the office so far, said Timo Schouten, project leader for Huurteam Zuid-Limburg, which maintains the complaints desk for Maastricht and thirteen other municipalities in Limburg. “We assumed there would be an increase after the introduction of another new law, the Affordable Rent Act, which allowed tenants to report excessive rents from the start of the year, but that effect has been minimal. There are also often complaints that are not actually handled by this desk, such as noisy neighbours, pests, or leaks.” A spokesperson for the municipality of Maastricht said that there had been 155 complaints so far this year, with 28 cases potentially involving the Landlords Good Practices Act.
Threaten
According to Schouten, students are the most likely to submit complaints. “It’s usually about intimidation. For example, a landlord who threatens to end a tenancy agreement because the tenant wants to go to the authorities with a complaint about insufficient maintenance, or who shuts off the electricity or water to pressure a tenant into leaving. Another common complaint is landlords entering someone’s room without permission. That’s not permitted and can be quite intimidating. Only, it can be hard to prove; you’d have to already have a camera up. Although there are absolutely students who do that.”
There are “only incidental” reports of discrimination. In itself remarkable, because an oft-heard complaint amongst students is that some landlords will only rent to a man, or only to a woman, or for example only to someone from the Netherlands or Germany. “If that is explicitly mentioned in the vacancy, then in principle, that is sufficient evidence of discrimination. But we can only deal with it if someone actually reports it.”
Reimburse
It is up to the municipality how to tackle the complaints. “If it does lead to a fine, then the offence and the offender’s name will both be listed on the municipality’s website,” said Schouten. That has only happened once so far (the fine is not listed, but it does say it involved a case of intimidation). A municipality spokesperson said that an attempt is first made to find a solution. In cases of excessive or unauthorised costs, they might call the landlord or agency and ask them to reimburse the costs. Only if that is unsuccessful it may actually lead to a fine.
Schouten has noticed the effects. “Think of brokerage fees, for example, sometimes up to €300, which some agencies in Maastricht charge for things like drafting tenancy agreements. That’s not allowed. Since it has been reported a number of times, we have seen a decrease. The same with deposits, which should be a maximum of double the rent, but in the past, sometimes used to be significantly higher. That has more or less stopped now.”
In addition, this summer, the municipality started ‘proactively’ investigating – so not triggered by complaints – things like exorbitant rents, the spokesperson said. Tenants at four of the 24 addresses investigated were found to be paying too much. In all those cases, the landlord made adjustments to avoid incurring a fine.