Reporting center for poor landlords

You can report poor rental practices by a landlord (or rental agent) to the municipality. Examples include discrimination or an unreasonable rental contract.

Is your landlord not complying with the rules? Then you can report this.

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Approach

You can report bad behavior by a landlord (or rental agent) online or by phone. Examples of bad behavior include:

  • discrimination
  • threat
  • You have not received a written lease agreement.
  • You have not received written information about:
    • rights and obligations of both tenant and landlord
    • landlord's contact information
    • an annual explanation of the service charges (if there are any service charges)
  • excessive security deposit (more than twice the monthly rent)
  • excessive service costs

Are you from another EU country and working temporarily in the Netherlands? Report this to the municipality if:

  • the lease agreement and the employment contract are one document. This applies to contracts concluded after July 1, 2023.
  • All written information relating to the rental agreement is in a language that you, as a migrant worker, do not understand.

Description

You can also report by telephone: 043-388 50 00 from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. It is also possible to report anonymously. Please note that the municipality will then be unable to contact you. For example, the municipality will not be able to ask you any questions about the abuses. The municipality will also be unable to help you with referrals to organizations that can better assist you, such as the rent assessment committee.

If the reporting center cannot help you further, they will tell you which agency or organization can. 

What does the Good Landlord Act entail?

The law is a national basic standard for good landlord practices in the form of general rules. This basic standard regulates the behavior of good landlords and rental agents toward house hunters and tenants.
The general rules apply to the entire rental process. This includes the rental of residential space and the rental of accommodation to migrant workers.

Requirements

Discrimination

Discrimination is prohibited. Different treatment on the basis of race, religious beliefs, political beliefs, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or chronic illness is not permitted.

Harassment

Intimidation of house hunters and tenants takes many forms and is prohibited. By intimidation, we mean that someone is forced to do or not do something through physical or psychological violence, threats of violence, or factual statements.

Written requirement

A landlord or rental agent is required to record the rental agreement in writing, even if it is a verbal agreement. In the case of migrant workers, the employment contract and rental agreement must be agreed separately.

Obligation to provide information

The tenant must be aware of his or her rights and obligations. The landlord or rental agent is obliged to provide the tenant with clear and comprehensible information in writing. This includes the tenant's legal rights and obligations regarding the property, especially if these rights and obligations are not specified in the lease agreement.

Prohibition on charging double brokerage fees

The law states that rental agents are not allowed to charge double agency fees. In practice, agency fees are sometimes also referred to as contract or administration fees. This is also prohibited.

Security deposit

The security deposit that the tenant must pay may not exceed twice the basic rent. The basic rent is the rent excluding service charges, utility costs, furniture, and other amenities. The landlord must refund the security deposit to the tenant no later than 14 days after the end of the lease, unless there is damage to the property.

Service charges

The landlord must provide the tenant with a breakdown of the service costs incurred each year. The calculation, justification, and increase of the advance payment must comply with the legal regulations.

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