Mr G. (59) is sure. His landlord, a private individual, is going for a maximum rent increase next year. He is sitting in the waiting room of an Amsterdam community center for a conversation with the !Woon foundation. He hopes that the organization can help him with the problems with his landlord, who almost never does maintenance on the house. Because G. wants to prevent the problems with the landlord from getting worse, he does not want his name in the newspaper. He does want to say that Minister of Housing Mona Keijzer (BBB) may have to think about it. Should rents be increased if the landlord has not even carried out maintenance?
Next year, Minister Keijzer’s rents may indeed increase despite the condition of the home. In the private sector with a maximum of 4.1 percent, in the mid-range rental (900 to 1185 euros per month) with 7.7 percent and in social rental with 5 percent. The Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning announced this on Tuesday.
The maximum amount rents may increase is laid down by law. The maximum percentage increase is linked to wage and price developments. This year, for the private sector, this means that rents may increase with the 2024 inflation rate of 3.1 percent plus 1 percent. In the mid-range rental sector, rents will rise in line with the average increase in collective labor agreement wages of 6.7 percent, plus another 1 percent.
For social rent, the cabinet, municipalities and corporations decided that rents may increase by up to 4.5 percent and that a maximum of 0.5 percent may be added for an individual rental home. This agreement was reached without the signature of the tenants’ association, the Woonbond. The association left the negotiations in November because it believed the intended permitted rent increases were too high. However, housing associations and other real estate owners argue that the rent increase is necessary to achieve their construction and sustainability goals.
Largest rent increase
From 2026, the maximum annual rent increase will be linked to the three-year average of inflation. This means that the rent increase will fluctuate less strongly. Tenants will then know better where they stand, according to the ministry, and corporations can count on more stable incomes.
This year already saw the largest rent increase in more than thirty years, it calculated Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In July this year, rents were on average 5.4 percent higher than a year earlier. Last year, rents rose by an average of 2 percent, according to Statistics Netherlands.
The Housing Association is therefore concerned about the permitted rent increases for next year. Spokesman Mathijs ten Broeke calls the maximum rent increases in all three segments “extremely high”. Especially because rents rose so fast last year. The Woonbond had therefore called on the cabinet to prevent another sharp increase next year. “Two major increases in a row are really impacting tenants.”
Proponents often say that rent increases are not such a problem for tenants because collective labor agreement wages have also risen, says Ten Broeke. “But not all workers are covered by a collective labor agreement. So not everyone benefits from the same wage increases.”
The Housing Association sees that the news about the permitted rent increases is causing a stir among tenants. “For many tenants it feels unfair,” says Ten Broeke. “For example, one man said: people who own a home see the value of their home rising every year and their mortgage costs falling, while as a renter I pay more every year for the same home.”
Not all rents increase to the maximum
Whether rents will actually rise that fast remains to be seen, says Matthijs Korevaar, associate professor of the housing market at Erasmus University Rotterdam. “Not all landlords will allow rents to rise to the maximum,” he expects. Korevaar points to a study published earlier this month by economists from ABN Amro in economists’ journal ESB. They analyzed the monthly rental payments made through the bank. It showed that landlords did not implement the maximum rent increase this year.
“On the one hand, this may be because landlords want to keep their tenants,” says Korevaar. “If you have a good tenant who takes good care of the home, you would rather not chase them away with the maximum rent increase.” On the other hand, Korevaar sees that the rent increases that landlords implement often depend on how strong the demand for rental properties is. “If there is less demand for rental properties, landlords will not be so quick to opt for the maximum increase, because then a potential tenant will simply go to a cheaper home.”
It is true that there is currently a lot of demand for rental properties, says Korevaar. According to him, it is therefore likely that rents will rise again. “But the really higher rents will mainly be felt by tenants in the private sector who are moving to a new home,” he says. There, landlords can determine the starting amount themselves. “But for existing tenants, I expect that the increases will not be too bad, because many landlords prefer to keep their tenants satisfied.”
Problems with landlord
Mrs. J. does not feel that her landlord is trying to keep her happy. She has been suffering from an unpleasant odor in her home for some time now. The landlord does nothing about it and tells her that she is hypersensitive to smell. Because she already has too much on her mind, she doesn’t want her name in the newspaper. J. has lived in the same social housing in Amsterdam-West since 2006. She only remembers one time before when her rent increased by 4 percent. The annual rent increase may be a few tens of euros, she says, but if health insurance also becomes more and more expensive, everything adds up quite a bit.
Mr. G.’s landlord recently asked him, after yet another collision, if he would rather move. I want that, he responded, but where? The waiting lists are long. There is no longer a house available. Certainly not in Amsterdam, where his two children go to school. And if he leaves his social housing for a home in the mid-rental or private sector, he can pay the main price.