Housing is not cheap, but rents will rise again for many people from July. Not everyone can afford that. Action group We Refuse the Rent Increase therefore calls on not to pay the increase. This is legal and in 2020 it was successful with half of the defaulters. “There really is something to win.”
Just don’t transfer extra money. This is how the activists and participants want to turn the tide. Out of unwillingness, but also out of desperation: Nibud already sounded the alarm in 2019, 800,000 households are left with too little for living expenses due to high housing costs.
People in North Holland also have difficulty with rent increases. That’s how it should be Willem Blok from IJmond from July one hundred euros extra per month, an increase of 13 percent. The increase feels extra harsh because the maintenance is quite disappointing: the insulation leaves something to be desired and the basement is regularly full of water.
“We refuse rent increase”
Action group We Refuse the Rent Increase is fighting for a multi-year rent freeze by joining forces with as many people as possible against the ever-rising rents. With the help of the step-by-step plan on the site tenants can simply protest against the higher price by not paying.
It is a legal action: failure to pay is a form of objection and that is legal. “It is important,” advises spokesman Abel Heijkamp, “to put the amount of the rent increase in your savings account. If the rent increase is still implemented, you still have to cough up the remaining amount.”
Fifty percent success
In 2020, the group carried out the same campaign with success: hundreds of people took part and, according to Heijkamp, half did not have to pay an increase in the end. “If the landlord does not send a letter within three months, they have accepted the objection. In this way, the rent increases did not go through in some cases, so there is really something to gain individually.”
This year the campaign has grown considerably, Heijkamp speaks of thousands of members throughout the country. That makes the group positive. While the organization is happy for the individual gains, ultimately they want a political change. Heijkamp: “We want to ensure that rents freeze in the coming years. We want greater change for the collective.”
In order to accelerate this collective change, the group brings people together in local action groups. Local networks organize flyer campaigns and so more and more residents get involved. Heijkamp: “The tenants I hear are wildly enthusiastic. The penny is falling with more and more people.”
Good means of action
Refusing the increase is a well-known action at the Woonbond and spokesman Marcel Trip understands that the action group points out to people. “As a tenant you send out a signal, it is a good means of action. It is good to know that with the action you do not necessarily stop the increase. You do not change the rules regarding rent increases.”
Trip points to the online check which the housing association offers, with which you can see whether your rent increase is justified. “If the increase is not in accordance with the rules, you can object to it. It’s good to see if that’s the case. And if not, you can still try it through this promotion.”
Landlord levy
He also agrees that it is good to exert pressure on politics in various ways. The housing association is also committed to freezing rents, but before 2023. From that year on, housing associations no longer have to pay landlord levy, a rule that was introduced in 2013 and caused rents to skyrocket.
“As far as we’re concerned, tenants should definitely notice the abolition of that levy. Tenants have also paid for it before, so it is more than logical that they will now also receive the abolition of the levy.”