Higher rents possible in the Netherlands with easing of rent regulations

The Dutch government is set to relax the Affordable Rental Act, allowing landlords in the middle housing sector to raise rents once again. Other plans to address the housing crisis have also been proposed.

Relaxing Dutch rent controls to combat landlords selling up

After the Affordable Rent Act was introduced in July 2024, aimed at regulating rental prices in the middle and social housing sectors, the rental supply in the Netherlands dropped when landlords started selling off their rental properties. To combat the offloading of more affordable rental housing, the government plans to relax the rent control law, RTL Nieuws reports.

Measures include adjusting the points system to allow the WOZ value to have more influence on how much rent a landlord can charge and removing penalty points for homes without outdoor space. This means that homes with a higher WOZ value and those without outdoor areas could now cost more in rent.

With the introduction of the rent law, temporary rental contracts were prohibited except for students from outside a municipality. Under the upcoming changes, temporary rental contracts will be permitted for all students.

Measures to boost housing in the Netherlands

Aside from relaxing the rent control law, the minister of housing Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan also has other plans to boost Dutch housing. This includes reducing the transfer tax for private landlords from 8 to 7 percent and building more prefab housing.

According to NOS, also in the plans is allocating 150 million euros per year for a “flexible pool” of civil servants to help municipalities plan extra housing construction and issue permits. 

Splitting homes and adding more floors will also be easier. "I am making splitting and adding floors permit-free where possible," Boekholt-O’Sullivan wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer). All the measures proposed could be implemented as early as next year or sooner if all goes well.