NL: Good Landlordship Act

 

It is expected that the Good Landlordship Act (hereinafter: "the Act") will enter into force on 1 July 2023. The aim of the law is to prevent undesirable rental practices when renting out residential or residential spaces such as discrimination, harassment, excessive rents and overdue maintenance.

General rules for good landlordship

The law contains a basic standard for good landlordship in the form of general rules. Among other things, the following rules have been formulated:

• the rental agreement must be recorded in writing;
• tenants must be well informed about their rights and obligations;
• landlords must use an insightful tenant selection procedure;
• it is forbidden for a rental agent to charge double agency fees;
• When settling service costs, a full cost specification must be provided to the tenant and only service costs that have a legal basis may be charged.

Rental license for regular housing

In addition to these general rules, municipalities can set up a rental permit to rent out housing in certain areas and attach conditions to this. For example, a municipality may set requirements for the quality of maintenance and the maximum rent. Municipalities are also given the power to revoke the permit granted if a landlord turns out not to be a good landlord. Such permits are intended to protect socioeconomically vulnerable tenants.

Rental permit with regard to migrant workers

For the rental to migrant workers, municipalities can also set up a rental permit. Municipalities can attach conditions to the permit with regard to, among other things, to whom the house is rented, how many people are allowed to live there and facilities for hygiene and food safety.

Enforcement

The municipality must ensure compliance with the law and must take enforcement measures if necessary. Municipalities are obliged to set up a hotline where tenants and home seekers can anonymously report undesirable behaviour by landlords or rental intermediaries.

The municipality can impose a fine of € 22,500.00 in case of violation of the law, which can amount to € 90,000.00 if the violation is repeated. If an administrative fine has been imposed twice within 4 years, the municipality can even decide to take care of the rented property. In that case, the municipality is authorized to perform all actions that belong to the rights and obligations of the landlord according to the law.

Conclusion

The law contains far-reaching obligations with far-reaching consequences in the event of non-compliance with these obligations. It is now up to landlords to follow up on this.

 

For further information, please contact:

Tim Boer, Partner

Labré advocaten, Amsterdam

e: tim.boer@labre.nl

t: +31 20 3052030

 

#WLNadvocate #TheNetherlands #law #legal #lawyer #lawfirm #landlords #realestatelaw #realestate #property #residential #goodlandlordship