Renting housing to migrant workers or in the Vrieheide or Uterweg neighborhoods

In the Vrieheide and Uterweg neighborhoods, livability is under pressure. Also, the vulnerable position of migrant workers is often abused. Therefore, you must have a rental permit if you want to rent to labor migrants or in the neighborhoods Vrieheide or Uterweg.

You must meet the following conditions

• You follow the 7 rules of good landlordism. 
• The rent you charge should not be too high:
  • there is a maximum rent
  • there is a maximum annual rent increase
  • you check if the rent is too high on the How much rent am I paying for my property at most? 
• You have applied for all other permits you need. For example:
  • an environmental permit if you want to split the property into multiple dwellings or subdivide, or
  • A permit to rent out immediately after you buy a property (buyout protection).
• You will create and implement a multi-year maintenance plan.
• You send a copy of this plan via email to gripopwonen@heerlen.nl, Do this within 6 months after you have the permit. 

What is important in evaluating your application

• We check that you have not previously acted without or in violation of a permit you needed;
• We investigate using the Bibob Act whether there is a serious danger that you will abuse the permit.

The multi-year maintenance plan states:

• What maintenance you will do to your building over the next 5 years;
• How much cost you expect to incur for that work;
• How much money you plan to set aside each year for other than ordinary annual expenses. This is for the period when the 5-year maintenance plan is over.

You make a separate maintenance plan for each apartment (subject to a permit requirement). For a housing complex, you make 1 multi-year maintenance plan for all apartments together in the building.

You may send the Owner's Association's multi-year maintenance plan. This plan, as well as the maintenance each owner pays for, complies with the Good Landlord Act.

7 rules of good landlordism

1. The landlord may not discriminate against the house seeker.
2. The landlord must not threaten or frighten the tenant.
3. The landlord may require up to 2 months of bare rent as a security deposit.
4. The landlord must make a written lease.
5. Landlords must properly inform tenants about:
   • rights and duties of the tenant over the property. Even those not included in the lease
   • the amount of the deposit and when tenants will get it back if the lease ends
   • contact information where the tenant can reach the landlord
   • information about the bad landlord hotline
   • service charges: landlords must show a complete annual statement of costs
6. The landlord only charges service fees listed in the Civil Code.
7. The rental intermediary may not charge a mediation fee to the tenant.

Additional obligations if you rent to a migrant worker

• You must record the rental agreement separately from the work agreement.
• You must inform the tenant in writing in a language he or she understands.

The municipality decides within 8 weeks of receiving your application. The municipality may extend this period once by 6 weeks.