Renting a housing association home for a few hundred euros per month, while you are also the owner of one or more owner-occupied homes: it is certainly not the intention, but it does happen. In 2024, the tenants of almost 12,000 housing association homes were guilty of this, researchers from the Central Planning Bureau established in a report that will be published on Tuesday.
These tenants are (partially) owners of a home and in many cases also rent it out, sometimes in violation of the rules of their association. About 1,200 tenants even have more than one home – some up to six and a few ten or more. The CPB speaks of a “special form of skewed housing” that is not in line with the social interest of housing associations: offering affordable housing to people with a lower income.
It is not known who these tenants-cum-landlords are. The researchers arrived at their results by combining anonymized datasets from Statistics Netherlands with the municipal personal records database. This way they could see whether a specific person was registered with a housing association and whether that person also has a home for sale in his or her name. Or that a tenant was co-owner of a home where someone else lived. The person’s name and address were not visible.
One in six of these 12,000 tenant-owners has special circumstances. For example, a divorce, where one of the ex-partners remains in the owner-occupied home and it has not yet been sold. There could also be an inheritance, where one of the parents is still alive and lives in the house, but one of the children becomes partial owner of the house.
Rent out yourself
But for the vast majority, such circumstances do not apply. According to the researchers, this group appeared to have a relatively high income and to live in attractive housing association housing, for example near amenities or a popular location.
One scenario is a couple who buy their own house after renting for a few years, but keep the housing association to sublet it – against the rules. One of the two continues to live in the corporation home on paper, while the other registers in the owner-occupied home. In the meantime, the corporation home is being sublet, without the corporation’s involvement.
The other way around is also possible: a tenant who lives in a housing association but who currently rents out one or more owner-occupied homes as a landlord. In 1,193 cases, a tenant appeared to own two or more owner-occupied homes – and was likely to generate rental income from them that was not appropriate for social housing. 33 tenants had ten homes or more. In 2021, research by the Land Registry, at the request of NRCthat one tenant in the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân had no fewer than 59 houses.
The group of skew tenants has a relatively high income and lives in attractive housing association homes in a popular location
Last year, a lawsuit arose between Ymere and a tenant, with the judge ruling in favor of the Amsterdam corporation. He canceled the lease of a tenant further away in Amsterdam turned out to have three owner-occupied homes. “The social interests of home seekers played a more important role than the private interests of the tenant. This statement was reason for us to delve deeper into this,” says Rob Aalbers, sector head of Climate and Built Environment at the CPB.
Although this only concerns half a percent of all 2.3 million housing association households, the researchers believe this is sufficient reason to conduct further research into this. “This phenomenon is not widespread, but is nevertheless relevant due to the long waiting lists for social housing and the clear tension with the objectives of corporations.”
This way you can unlock 12,000 housing association homes for people who really need them
Many corporations try to tackle this practice by asking each new tenant in advance whether they are already a homeowner, or by laying down clauses that tenants must notify them if they take possession of a home. It sometimes happens that a corporation asks for a deed of sale or a sales order from an estate agent.
But for those who have been renting in a housing association for some time, there is often no policy at the housing association. “The moment a new tenant moves into a home, matters such as income are tested. After that, not anymore. You can imagine that housing associations want to periodically check whether their tenants still fall within the target group,” says Aalbers. “And besides: these people rent from corporations, where there are long waiting lists, but in the meantime they have a home that they could live in. This way you can free up 12,000 corporation homes for people who really need them.”
Also read
Social renting, with a pied-à-terre in the canal belt
The journalistic principles of NRC