Minister Mona Keijzer (Housing and Spatial Planning, BBB) wants to implement some relaxation in the rules for renting out homes, with the aim of combating the sale of houses in the possession of private landlords. That is what the minister registers on Thursday one letter To the Lower House. According to Keijzer, the number of private rental properties is declining, among other things due to the introduction of the affordable rent of its predecessor Hugo de Jonge, who came into effect in 2024.
In order to make private rental again more lucrative, Minister Keijzer wants to introduce four ‘rapidly enforceable’ measures that ‘bottlenecks have an impact on the business case of private landlords ”have to remedy.
First of all, the minister wants to relax the so-called ‘WOZ-CAP’. As a result, the WOZ value of houses would again take into account in determining the maximum rental price, which can lead to higher rental prices in the Randstad in particular.
In addition, Keijzer wants to relax the rules for temporary lease contracts for students. By the previous cabinet, temporary contracts were restricted: only for students who rent in a different municipality than where they live is such a temporary contract permitted. Minister Keijzer wants to debate quickly with the House of Representatives.
Minister Keijzer wants to submit her proposals to the House of Representatives before the summer, writes ANP news agency on the basis of one of Keijzer’s spokespersons. Then they could start on January 1, 2026.
‘Serious worries’
Critical reactions have come from various angles to the plans of Minister Keijzer, including from the own coalition. NSC has “serious worries,” writes MP Merlien Welzijn on LinkedIn. Welfare is, among other things, spokesperson for Housing for the Party. NSC is “absolutely no supporter” of the adjustments to the rules for determining rental prices, she writes. “With these proposals, the rent threatens to rise further and a real solution for private landlords.”
The aldermen also live from the big cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht are “big worries” about the plans, writes ANP news agency. “In Amsterdam, for example, a quarter of the middle rental homes will become considerably more expensive. In Utrecht, with the highest WOZ value after Amsterdam, these proposals will have major consequences for the affordability of middle rental homes,” say Zita Pels (Amsterdam, GroenLinks) and Dennis de Vries (Utrecht, PvdA).
Read also
New rental rules can cost students their homes