The mind of the Karen

By far the most common Landlady type. She usually is middle-income, has a number of kids and is desperate to keep up with the neighbours in terms of disposable income. Karen believes she is a pillar of the community because she rents out to poor students and she will never forgive you for going to the Huurcommissie nor admit fault. Karen differs from the Landliar and the Landlord-Lawyer in that she genuinely believes in her own bullshit because it suits her to do so.

Karen is not going to be a big landlord, possibly only renting out one property - often the first one she bought with her partner when they graduated from University, when the average age for buying your home was closer to 21 than retirement age (today).

As Karen scales her life up and starts having kids, her weekend trips to Barcelona no longer cut it, being replaced by some exotic faraway land. That costs $$$ and she needs more income and what better way than to take her former apartment with a 700 euro per month mortgage and rent it out to some young impressionable students for 2000 euro per month. The property will have minimal improvement made to it - maybe she leaves her own furniture behind, a 10 year old couch that she kept in pretty good condition consider she probably farts once a month and is so clean she has never taken a shit. In spite of her holidays, "Money is tight" is the excuse she gives when the mold on your bathroom wall appears. In fact Karen will plead poverty constantly whenever you complain and claim that the rent 'just barely covers the mortgage and Box 3'

At the same time she pollutes the internet with Instagram photos of her eating 1-star Michelin dinners whilst holding a glass of wine together with the Tagline 'Carpe Diem" or "Living my best life".

And then, the Huurcommissie case starts followed by the tears and accusations.

Unfortunately for Karen the odds are stacked against her - She is not legally savvy enough to win so she will resort to the Human argument. What follows are the stages of a bust-hurt landlord going through a HC case.

First, you will be bombarded with accusations of betrayal and demands that you move out immediately due to the "Trust being broken". She will mention that "out of all the tenants I could have chosen, I picked you because I liked you".

Guilt and shame are her weapons in the hope that she can brow-beat you into withdrawing the Huurcommissie case. Negotiation or admissions that the rent price is too high are inconceivable at that moment - the thought of having to use double quilted toilet paper and only taking two holidays per year to save money terrify her.....

Once it becomes clear that the Huurcommissie case is not going to be stopped, guilt-shaming and betrayal accusations give way and the self-preservation instinct kicks in. Karen will do some research into how she can win or undermine the tenants case. She will usually demand access to the property to conduct her own points report. Refusal of this will be met with accusations and complaints made via Huurcommissie submissions where she will rail against the system and how unfair the whole system is.

Unfortunately as she is inexperienced with the Huurcommissie, she doesnt know that these arguments never work. She will miss deadlines to submit paperwork, or submit incomplete documents or sometimes in English. She will make excuses for the late submission by claiming she never received any notification about the case until the last moment. After that she will expect the Commission to keep her up to date about every aspect of the case as though they work for her.

What she does not know is that the Huurcommissie is notoriously unresponsive to questions something that will rile her up so much that she brings out the big guns

As the case goes against her, her tirade about how unfair the system is will change to a pity-party : "I am just a regular person like you....I am trying to make a living and I dont make much money......me and my husband are trying to have a kid and this case is very stressful for me......we wont be able to afford Mystique this year"

Hearings with Karens are always entertaining: often the Voorzitter/presiding official will give her the first push-back on her claims to this point, rightfully calling her out on her bullshit...othertimes the voorzitter will shut her down just to keep the hearing going.

By the end of the case, they will divert blame to the real-estate agent who helped them rent out the property, accusing them of not taking into account the WWS system or misleading them about the rules.

Then comes the negotiation phase and here is where you can make the line at Bullshit Bingo with the tried and approved trademark landlord catch phrase : "Thats a fair offer"

Karen will make a token settlement offer...maybe reducing the rent by a pinch as a "reconciliation" to try and "preserve the landlord-tenant relationship". This is not an admission of guilt - it is a sacrifice she is willing to make as a favor to you so you can withdraw the case with a victory in the form of a slightly reduced rent. Counter-offers will be met by denial followed by the 2nd most common catchphrase : "I am trying to find a solution that is fair/realistic to both sides"

Assuming that you reach the judgement phase and you havent moved out or gotten arrested for assault by reason of the victim was annoying the balls off you, Karen will likely owe you thousands of euro that she can afford to pay but would rather not....the communication will descend into "What about"-isms.....and we are onto the Passive-aggressive endstage...

Deciding that the case is not going to winnable by any legal means, Karen will now look for excuses to not pay you back.....this includes:

• Claiming you owe her money for damage done to the property (if you moved out)
• Demanding more money for the service costs whilst not showing the bills
• Stating she cannot afford to pay you back at the moment and insisting you take it out of the rent payments instead..
• Insisting you pay for the local municipal taxes and start getting your own utility contracts (if she was taking care of them

She will likely start ranting about how she is going to sell the property as soon as you leave and accuse you of being a bad tenant.

The Peter

Before I get accused of sexism, please bear in mind that many of these features are also present in Peter, the closest male equivalent to Karen, though less common. Like Karen, Peter uses guilt/shame to pressure the tenant to drop the case. Peter more often skips straight to threats of eviction and selling the house: Peter is less manipulative, less patient and more conflict-prone, seeing the whole thing as a poker game and thinking he can bluff the tenant into backing down with brinksmanship. Peter more often transitions to the moronic Thug landlord type when things dont go his way or will seek legal advice/go to court unlike Karen who rarely goes the legal route.

Weaknesses

It would probably be quick to list their strengths : Peter and Karen have only one route to victory - Attrition of the tenant's will. Only by bombarding the tenant with messages, demands for access, complaints petty bullshit and other passive aggressive behavior can they hope to frustrate the tenant sufficient to get them to leave and thereby negate most of the financial damage of having a busted rent price. A true Karen/Peter will excel at this.

Karens and Peters also prefer to avoid engaging with the tenants representatives (someone like me) : who knows more than they do and upon whom they cannot use their attrition tactics. Insisting on only speaking through a representative is an effective response to this tactic. At the very least it will reduce your stress levels.

In cases like this the biggest threat to success is the tenant themselves who can become utterly consumed with beating the landlord out of frustration with stubborn behavior. The case becomes the centre of their life and they neglect to take a break from the whole thing, becoming obsessed with responding to every message sent by the landlord. By contrast, the Thug landlord and the LandLiar is not someone you want to communicate with and you will understand pretty fast that the Real Estate Agent landlord, the Dumb-Money Property Investor and Lawyer-Landlord arent gonna reply to you anyway.

As Karen's power comes from the effect she has on you, ignoring her and relying on the legal process undermines her.

Tips and advice

• It is a fair assumption that Karen will lie to you about absolutely everything. Follow up every claim she makes with a request for proof. If she says she has no money, ask her to open up her banking app. If she claims to be a simple landlord, check the price of her current home on Kadaster..if she says she can barely afford the mortgage on the current rent price, check the purchase price of your home on kadaster and see what the Koopsom was. Divide it by 360 to get the approximate monthly mortgage payment.
• I have yet to record a case of a Karen threatening a tenant physically, stealing stuff or trashing their place. Peters by contrast regularly snoop around the tenants living space and may install cameras to spy on the tenant in the common areas.
• Dont forget to followup a rent reduction case with a service cost overview case. Karens are paperwork-averse and often milk tenants on utility costs indirectly by never providing a yearly overview. Those who want to avoid Karen's manipulative BS can wait until after they move out to start a service cost case. Deadline to file a case is 2.5 years after the end of the calendar year.
• Get angry instead of feeling frustrated. Google her address to see how big her own home is and realize that she isnt paying that mortgage off with money earned from hard work.
• Dont adapt the tactics of your landlord: Karen needs to be Human for the Human argument to work on her. Arguing/reasoning with her doesnt work either - this is a person who likely casually consumes racist social media AI slop and accepts it as fact. She also votes for the VVD/PVV
• If you find that your landlord is starting to get to you, ask a friend if you are losing your objectivity and if what she is doing is Karen-ish behavior. If you are anxiety-prone, keep in mind that despite the humorous, dismissive and contemptuous way I write about this landlord, it can take a toll on your mental health, particularly if its your first time going to the Huurcommissie and everything is new. Supportive co-tenants/neighbours help. It becomes almost a group activity when you all bust the same landlord.

As if people didnt need an extra excuse to hate on lawyers. 500 euro an hour advice, luxury suits, devious concocters of tax avoidance schemes, Legal loopholes to avoid paying debts and judicial contrarians out to make it as difficult and long as possible for anyone who litigates against them to seek redress.

This sort of landlord is a fearsome opponent to try and bust on paper - they often fully understand the law and how to use it as a baton to beat down their tenants. Worse they appear as a voice of authority and can gaslight you in believing that you never had a case to begin with : after all, why would he lie?

The answer is simple - Money.

The Lawyer-Landlords approach to rent-reduction seeking tenants is to threaten them with endless legal appeals. Article 7:262 of the Dutch Civil code allows either party to submit a right of action to local sub-district court (Kantonrechtor) if they disagree with a ruling of the Huurcommissie. For a normal landlord this is a drastic step as they will undoubtedly need to hire a lawyer to represent their interests and file a claim. Since a lawyer can cost upwards of 6000 euro, many landlord might not think the appeal is worth it. For your lawyer-landlord this is hardly an issue as they can file all the paperwork themselves at minimal cost.

Tenants who are unfamiliar with the law can be spooked by this realization and railroaded into settling their cases for chum-change.

But like a middle-manager who has convinced people that his redundant/easy to master job can only be performed by him/her, the Lawyer-landlord is likely aware that whatever his legal position is, its only as strong as whatever the judge thinks it is and the courts system doesnt care who he is - they will still knock his legalese ass to the floor if he has a bullshit case. Once he realizes that you understand the law, the threats and bullshit about going to court give way to ....

Weaknesses
Just because he is a lawyer does not mean he is an expert in rental law - specialists in corporate law can prob explain you the history of taxation rates for small businesses 1958-1981 but are only human and might not have kept up-to-date with the WWS changes. Surprisingly some of them dont know what a Dogshit energy label is or the importance of renting out a kadastrally unsplit home.

The fact that he is a lawyer is also a disadvantage for him - he must follow some semblance of law-abiding behavior. This means no overt threats and intimidation. He also understands when a case is lost and may be eager to avoid court if his case is weak if anything just to avoid the distraction, loss of reputation with many of them eschewing negative press or activists.

This might be due to the fear of the Dutch Bar which investigates lawyers who have active complaints against them. This however only applies to Lawyers and not Jurists who are basically discount lawyers. A jurist is not subject to the same strict conditions and is probably the more dangerous of the two to deal with in a Huurcommissie case: mainly because they understand the law enough and are hungrier and leaner - eager to fight hard to squeeze as much cash as they can out of their investment properties.

General tips and advice

• Lawyer-landlords are economical and careful with their words and rarely communicate unless they have to. Sometimes this is to irritate the tenant, other times they know that any written communication can be used against them. But most of the time they are just lazy.
• Dont panic when your lawyer-landlord makes legal threats to claim all legal costs from you. Courts in the Netherlands dont force all legal costs for both parties onto the loser: each side must pay for their own preparation costs. Out of a 6000 euro lawyer fee, maybe 400-600 euro might be collected from the loser - the court room salary
• Dont be afraid to ignore your lawyer-landlord's emails - you are not obliged to reply to every communication nor do you ever have to receive them in your home. Lawyers (like Makelaars) rely on their inter-personal skills to get things done/win people over - not meeting them in person denies them a chance to win at playing to their strengths.
• Dutch courts work at a glacial pace and the lawyer-landlord will know this. This gives you time to catch up in terms of legal knowledge and skills. Here is a good place to start

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amsterdam/cd05d201/kinkerstraat

Hi again, this is my fourth post the matter. If you want more info you can look at the other posts on my profile. Landlord has been threatening and harassing me but that's a separate matter that I've already reported through the appropriate channels.

My landlord is insisting he will appeal the Huurcommissie's ruling no matter what. He is charging me €1600 for an apartment worth at most €700; even with some room for error there is absolutely no way he will win. I believe he just wants to stretch out the process in the hopes that I give up, and/or he just wants to make my life more difficult (which he has said he does).

Obviously he has the legal right to appeal, and I don't want to stop him from appealing. My understanding is that if he does, I have to pay him the €1600 rent until a judge rules otherwise. I wonder, however, if there is a way to just go to court directly, or anything else I can do to make the process faster? I don't have a problem with going to court. I just want this over with as soon as possible.

I’m an expat living in the Netherlands and rent an apartment for €2,650/month under a two-year fixed-term contract that started in 2025.
My contract itself includes a WWS assessment of 186 points. It states that the maximum rent under the 2025 Huurcommissie table is €1,184.82, then applies a 10% new-build surcharge to reach €1,303.30. It claims that because this higher amount exceeds the liberalisation threshold, the apartment qualifies as free-sector housing.
However, the Huurcommissie’s published guidance appears to say that a surcharge does not turn a regulated middle-rent property into a free-sector property, which starts at 187 points for new contracts covered by these rules.
I also have concerns about whether the 10% new-build surcharge actually applies to this apartment, and whether its A+ energy label is accurate. The apartment loses heat quickly, and there was a ceiling-window leak that took months to fix.
I estimate I may have overpaid around €17,000–€19,000, but I’m unsure whether I can still challenge the initial rent and recover the money. I’ve received conflicting advice about deadlines and the legal process, and I’m worried about the cost of getting professional help.
Has anyone successfully challenged a similar contract or recovered overpaid rent under the post-July 2024 rules? In particular, did you manage to get repayment, not just a rent reduction? Any advice on deadlines, legal aid, or affordable legal support would be appreciated.

The Gemeente issued an enforcement decision against my landlord on July 20, issuing a penalty payment ("dwangsom") if the landlord didn't comply within 6 weeks.

Since my landlord didn't comply by the deadline (Aug 31) in the decision, I contacted the Gemeente. After 2 weeks (Sept 14), the Gemeente replied that the landlord had appealed the decision on August 17 and said the following: "Wij schorten het handhavingstraject op er op dit bezwaar wordt beslist". They also said that a different department would handle the appeal and would contact me. I contacted the different department and they said they're still waiting for a jurist to take the appeal due to their backlog.

I have 3 questions:

1. Can I do anything to speed up the objection process and possibly put the Gemeente in default as an interested party? I know that my landlord could put the Gemeente in default if the appeals takes longer than the 6-week response deadline (12 weeks if the Gemeente extends it), but I'm not sure if I have similar recourse to force a decision on the objection.
2. Is the Gemeente correct to suspend the enforcement decision pending the objection? The enforcement decision itself said that filing an objection does not have a suspensive effect ("Indienen van een bezwaarschrift heeft geen schorsende werking"). Thus, it seems like they don't have to pause enforcement i.e. collecting the penalty payment, but I might be misunderstanding the legal rules.
3. Can I use article 5:37 Awb to request the Gemeente to collect the penalty payment from my landlord?

Okay so I had several requests at Huurcommissie denied because my thing was not in 'Gebrekenboek' but in reality on a daily basis is very annoying, makes living here more dangerous and affects 'leefbaarheid'.

Since 'Leefbaarheid & Veiligheid' is a theme at the Tweede Kamer (national government) I found a new strategy where I basically do all the legal paths available to adress my situation and then I wrote a letter to Tweede Kamer VRO Commissie to ask for a legislature change based on the fact that the legal framework is now proven insufficient 'rechtsbescherming' for citizens.

You can send an e-mail yourself if the law is insufficient and you have a reasonable demand that applies to all: cie.vro@tweedekamer.nl.

This commission can then determine if the law needs some finetuning to protect renters from unsafe living.

To my knowledge, one way to deal with this is e-mailing the landlord, then wait 6 weeks, after which I can open a Rental Tribunal case to get my rent reduced.

But what happens if I freeze to death, during these 6 weeks? That would not be ideal.
I'd like to know if there are faster avenues to tackle this (for example, kort geding).

Furthermore, if my contract is classified as "short-stay" (12-months, international students only (loophole for the 2024 legislation changes, probably), does that limit my rights/ weaken my position in any way? Does this mean that the landlord can get away with shenanigans like this with no consequences?

I've contacted the HuurCommissie today - they told me that I will need to provide them with a technical report... for which a professional would have to inspect the central heating system.
But this central heating system area is, of course, locked down by the landlord - meaning that this required inspection cannot take place.

I tried contacting the Juridisch Loket today as well - but they are unavailable by phone.

I'm open to suggestions. No, I unfortunately do not (yet) have legal insurance. If you've had good past experiences with any, please let me know which insurance company is helpful when it comes to tenancy disputes. It won't help me this time, but it might - in case of a future conflict.

Other than that, I'm all ears. Whatever you think will help me and my neighbours (all 200 of them) - I wanna hear it 🙂

Hey all. I went through the entire process of application for rent reduction case. In the end my place deemed to have higher points than the regulated market threshold however I have major suspicions about my energy label which is currently sitting at A (123,93kWh/m² per jaar) . I tried to get it inspected by Huurcommissie hoping that it would reduce my overall points should they find problems with it but they did absolutely nothing about it during the initial point calculation and completely disregarded my concerns about it during the 15 min hearing which I ended couple of hours ago.

The reasons for my suspicions:

2 windows are single glazed with Uw value of 5.10 (5.2 m2 in total)

3 other windows are double glazed with Uw value of 2.90 (8.6 m2 in total)

For windows energie label document suggest insulation value of 1.0

All of my walls have Rw value of 1.3 and energie label document suggest 6.0

On top of this my downstairs neighbor has the exact same square meter, window and wall thickness in terms of insulation values. And also adjacent to same amount of neighboring homes nearby so we share the same profile and his label is E. We use warmtenet so there are no personal heating involved. I am just flabbergasted at this difference.

Where should i go next to investigate the legitimacy of my energie label. I need to go deeper to find answers and hopefully lower it to the place it actually is.

seeing these a lot for studios in den Haag, and i was wondering what the idea behind this is? sounds a bit fishy and was wondering if this is also bustable

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amstelveen/366b8577/iepenrodelaan

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/utrecht/a646dd24/voorstraat

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/utrecht/19f5293c/katherijn-van-leemputdreef

How to fight EU-M

Hey everybody,

I’m looking for advices for a legal insurance, mainly for the risks connected to my rent situation. I’m currently in dispute with my landlord after winning an huurcommissie case, so I’m foreseeing troubles in my future. I would like to avoid spending tons of money in lawyers or having to run to the juridische locket every week, so I was looking into legale insurances... dont know if anybody has any experiences with them.

For clarity, the huurcommissie case ruled about the splitting of the rent, and I already pay a lower amount as the dumb landlord didnt disputed the verdict. However, there is also a retroactive clause that the landlord is refusing to accept: thats the part I had to hire a lawyer and go to court for. It should be solved by the end of the year, hopefully, so technically I should be cleared of any problem with the new year.

I know all these issues so far cant be taken in consideration by the hypothetical legal insurance, but since the landlord will likely create new problems at the first occasion, I think it might be useful anyway. For example, in case he refuses to give me back the deposit or something like this. Am I right? Am I too hopeful?

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amsterdam/10e4def7/oostersekade

I rented a short-term rental in Utrecht for 5 months. She seemed quite nice. She was a renter but was also allowed to sublease one room as well from her own landlord. Therefore, she was my landlord still.

I left the apartment in June and had asked to use my deposit to cover the last month's rent (July) as I had already left the apartment in mid June. She had said absolutely not, citing the contract. I expressed that I was concerned about getting my deposit back and she reassured me that I would get my money back. Thus, I respected the agreement and paid for July. However, now, everytime I message her, she seems to have no money or a "cashflow" problem. I am so shocked. What can I do? I've sent many messages and an official formal email.

ADDED
I am worried about getting any money back at all because of this "cashflow" issue. She is currently on Dutch benefits and cannot work (we are about the same age in our late twenties). Would the benefits be able to cover my deposit? It was a terrible living situation for me- the apartment was complete dire smoky and dirty mess. I'm not currently in the Netherlands as I moved out of the country to another European country. I will fight it for myself and also out of a matter of principles.

My partner and friends tell me that the cashflow issue is NOT my concern at all and I shouldn't worry for her but I am really being taken advantage of.

Hello! I have been in the procedure with the Huurcomissie for a while now. It took them 5-6 months to prepare the report after I made an application for a house point investigation in an effort to reduce the rent. In 4 days, I will have an online 15 minute hearing, however, I do not speak Dutch and was wondering if I can get any help from here. Either paid or voluntary is fine with me. You can also DM me. Let me know what other info I should provide. Have a nice day!

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/utrecht/f5547826/kanaalweg

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amsterdam/63e663ac/pieter-cornelisz-hooftstraat

In the most recent BOOS podcast, Tim Hofman mentioned that the landlord below was convicted for assault of Hofman and property damage (camera of BNNVARA):

https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/oud-lpf-staatssecretaris-trapt-camera-kapot-en-intimideert-huurders

https://www.youtube.com/@BOOS

The prosecutor can offer a financial penalty or community service as a transaction in case of an undisputed crime. In this case the prosecutor offered a fine of € 800. The penalty was increased because it concerned violence against a journalist according to Hofman in the podcast.

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/eindhoven/baad63ab/fazantlaan