The government will regulate a larger part of the private rental sector. Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing and Spatial Planning) wants to make more rented houses affordable for middle incomes. The rent is reduced for people with a low income.
De Jonge wants to make rental houses affordable for middle incomes by introducing a points system that already applies in the social rental sector (for which no more than 763 euros in rent may be paid).
The points system will be stretched and will be between 1,000 and 1,250 euros. The exact upper limit has yet to be determined. The system protects more homes in the free sector and the landlord is no longer allowed to determine the amount of the rent. If all goes well, the measure will take effect in 2024.
The minister presented his plan ‘Affordable housing’ on Thursday. He mainly focuses on homes for people with a middle income, such as police officers, teachers and nurses. It should be easier for them to find a house because municipalities, for example, allocate houses to them.
The minister also wants to tackle the high housing costs of people with a low income. Due to the high rents, they sometimes have too little money left to live on. They are in danger of getting into serious trouble because of high inflation.
“Excessively high housing costs are tackled by limiting rent increases and by allocating people a home that matches their income. We lower the rents for people with a low income,” the plans state.
Rent allowance also on the shovel
The rent allowance is also on the shovel. De Jonge wants to simplify it “firmly”. The plans should also make more people eligible for housing benefit. The reformed housing allowance is to come into effect in 2024.
The plan is to abolish the maximum rent limit for the rent allowance. That limit is now 763 euros. Young people are also more likely to be eligible for housing benefit. The age limit will be raised from 23 to 21 and service costs will no longer fall under the housing allowance.
The housing minister wants to better protect tenants and buyers. “There is no place for brokers who play in cahoots over the back of a buyer. We will tackle rogue landlords,” the plan states. One of the measures that De Jonge wants to introduce to improve legal protection is “making the home valuation system compelling and transparent”.
It had already been announced earlier that more will be built for the low and middle incomes. Of the 900,000 homes to be built up to and including 2030, almost 40 percent – or 350,000 homes – must be intended for middle incomes. It also concerns 250,000 social rental homes.