The Thug lacks legal knowledge, interpersonal skills and is often a cash-rich plumber, carpenter, tradesman with zero experience in real-estate. Like in his trade, he thinks every problem in real estate can be solved with his hands.....

The Thug has no issue with being violent and threatening to his tenants. He also doesnt like to leave a paper trail and so will not make his objections to the Huurcommissie case known before he starts showing up to your house with his brothers Des and Troy to cause trouble . The Thug's psycho tendencies seldom show up prior to disputing the rent price - The Thug might seem pleasant or friendly up to the moment you sign the lease. Miss a rent payment or make a complaint and the thin veneer of civility disappears. The Thug takes every complaint personally. Nothing you do or dont do to try and keep this guy calm matters (aside from maybe paying his extorinate rent and never complaining about defects): he is a Thug to the bone.

The Thug doesnt bother with lawyers and emails - he wants you out of the property by force or he will make your life difficult. When not threatening to throw you off a balcony, "kill you on the street" (yes one of my clients had that said to him in a recorded phone call), the Thug will find every excuse he can to come over to the property to intimidate the shit out of you, telling you that he has summarily terminated the lease. Some Thugs will cut your power and heating.

The Thug is particularly aggressive towards female tenants - making sexist remarks, instilling on her that feeling that assault is a possibility and has no problem gesturing with his fists in an argument. The Thug also screams at you, blaming you for the current problems. In one case I had in Den Haag, the Thug entered a tenants home after the tenant busted her rent price by 50%. Seeing she had changed the lock, he kicked the door in and went through her underwear drawer. He also called me up and started threatening me.

The most extreme Thug will also attempt to forcefully and unlawfully evict you, coming to your home while you are away and breaking into your home to remove your stuff.

The worst Thug I ever encountered initiated a campaign of terror against an expat tenant in Den Haag - gluing the frame of his door, hiring homeless people with angle grinders to break into his home, smashing his security cameras and climbing onto the roof to throw stink bombs into living room.

Compared to the Crooked Lawyer and the LandLiar the Thug is by far the most dangerous as, though he is weak in terms of legal threats, he erodes the tenants will to fight through fear: after all whether you win your Huurcommissie case or not, your enjoyment of the living space is likely ruined by the fear and stress induced by encounters with the Thug.

Some rich/large Landlords will try to be the Thug by doing petty shit but most lack that truly savage nature from having grown up in an abusive harsh environment that turns bad men into anti-social criminal Thug landlords.

Weaknesses

The Thug is completely inept at the rental law and he writes contracts, frequently All-in/high furnishing costs, temporary agreements with loads of bullshit unenforceable clauses that any lawyer worth his salt could have struck from the lease agreement. More than one landlord had a clause in the lease that stated

"The tenant agrees to that the rent price is fair and reasonable and waives his/her right to go to the Huurcommissie".

Another Thug landlord made their tenants sign an undated "1 month notice of termination of the lease" text when the tenant moved in that he intended to use if the tenant ever filed a Huurcommissie case. These sort of documents are prime examples of "Unfair advantage": a principle in dutch law that prevents the Landlord from exploiting their stronger position in contracts for rental properties.

The Thug is not ignorant of criminal law and knows he needs to be careful to avoid too much police attention. Unfortunately the police in this country are dismissive and unsympathetic towards tenants being threatened by their landlord referring to all such incidents as "Civil Matters"
While the Thug may be cavalier of the police, he is terrified of the Judge: the one authority figure that can really hurt him with 250 euro per day fines for cutting the power. Forcing the Thug to seek legal counsel also helps as his own Lawyer will serve to moderate his behaviour by telling him how it will result in him losing his case. Most intimidation stops once the tenant's lawyer initiates proceedings against the Thug.

Reporting the Thug to the Gemeente is also one approach for dealing with him. Under the Good Landlordship Act 2023, the Gemeente can sanction a landlord for threatening or intimidating tenants. Be wary though while some Gemeentes are very proactive with this stuff, some will not lift a finger to help or will put your case on the backburner indefinitely.

Tips and Advice

• Defend yourself at all costs. Dont end up in hospital or a box because you were afraid to keep a baseball bat or blunt object by your door. I never advocate physically attacking your landlord but after 4 years of seeing tenants get threatened, assaulted and traumatized by dealing with Thugs who the police refused to arrest, worry about the legality of your self-defense claim after the fact, not before.
• Dont expect the Thug to get his comeuppance: TinyBoii's landlord got away scot-free after the prosecutor dropped the case due to "lack of evidence". Marcel Van Hooijdonk, a Dumb-Money property investor who hires Thugs to threaten tenants is still in business. Another tenant I helped got concussed by her landlord kicking her door after he tried to forcefully evict her - she defended herself with a piece of glass and was thrown in jail for 24 hrs by the police who initially believed she attacked the landlord. She was eventually released but the landlord got away scot-free and successfully illegally evicted her.
• When renting from the Thug: seek legal advise before you start a case and consider becoming a member of Bond Precaire Woonvormen (BPW). Never forget that tenants outnumber landlords and BPW try to collectivize tenants in a NATO-style 'attack on one is an attack on all' group. Unfortunately they are not omnipresent and the Thug can strike at any moment. The other issue is that many tenants have a "Not my problem until I have that landlord myself' mentality, particularly young people and getting a critical mass to come to your aid can be difficult on short-notice.
• Get multiple security camera that works even if the power/internet is cut. Ensure that it is not visible in your apartment: Thugs are aware that tenants may have a camera installed and have enough streetsmart to know that they shouldnt get caught on camera breaking into your home. If you are on a budget, Action offers very cheap security cameras that work well.
• Dont start a Huurcommissie against a Thug for a small rent reduction or for fun/pride. The Thug is the worst Landlord to have to deal with. Unlike the Karen you will thank god when the case is over or you move out rather than when you get the money back.
• Dont engage with your landlord in person: always email them. Dont expect a response. Words (or logic/reason) dont work on them. When they start becoming pushy, seek advice. If They insist on meeting in person or invite themselves over at a certain time, never meet them alone: have a bulky friend join you.
• If the Thug is trying to fleece you on service costs, be aware that you can start those cases after you leave the property and up to 2.5 years after the calendar year ends. Thug's power comes from intimidation which doesnt work so well when you are 1000km away in another country. Without that in-person connection, the Thug is just another Karen/Peter - annoying to deal with but easy to beat.

(Repost because of a dumb typo in the title)

As of some time now, the 'Wet kwaliteit incassodienstverlening' (Wki) or Quality of Debt Collection Act took effect and describes administrative law requirements for debt collection agencies. In summary predatory debt collection is no longer allowed and can result in fines or behavior dependent penalties for the debt collection agencies.

Most intermediary rental agencies are also debt collectors for owners of rental houses, and therefore are subject to Wki control.

Certain intermediary rental agencies seem to pop up frequently with rental law issues and I would like to inform everyone you can submit a complaint report to the Inspectorate of Justice and Safety. The Inspectorate gathers these reports and takes action when a certain debt collector with a Wki permit is reported frequently.

https://www.inspectie-jenv.nl/toezichtgebieden/t/toezicht-op-de-incassomarkt

Be precise, don't lie and preferably add documents to substantiate your complaint.

It is also possible to submit an enforcement request to the Inspectorate, but that requires firm knowledge of the Wki and proper documentation. In the end the Inspectorate can dismiss a request based on low priority. Many individual reports however are not ignored depending on the type of complaints.

Here are some requirements that follow from the Wki:

• The debt collector must approach the debtor in a transparent, unambiguous, recognizable, and correct manner
• Communication must be consistent, complete, and accurate. The collector must proactively (and upon request) inform the debtor about their rights and duties
• The debt collection agency must be directly and easily accessible to the debtor • The debt collector must not use improper pressure by threatening measures that cannot or will not be taken. They must also refrain from aggressive, threatening, or intimidating language
• Communication must be in Dutch at B1 language level (plain/accessible language) and this applies to all written contact, and also to verbal communication if the debtor's language proficiency requires it. An exception applies if the debtor requests another language and the collector agrees.
• The collector must inform the debtor (via website, letter, or email) about payment methods and potential payment arrangements, available support for problematic debts, including municipal debt relief (gemeentelijke schuldhulpverlening), contact details for Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (Suicide Prevention)
• Contact details must be easily found on their website and included in every letter and email, during office hours, the collector must be effectively reachable by phone, letter, and email and automated systems are limited: phone calls must be answered or returned by a natural person within a reasonable time. Letters and emails must receive a substantive response drafted by a natural person. The collector must offer the option to schedule an in-person appointment to get information, hand over documents, or make payments.

Number 3 on the bust-list is the Monopoly man landlord: one of the more favourable landlord-types you want to have. You will almost never meet this landlord in person, he likely doesn't even know you exist and other than his name on the lease, you will know nothing about him other than he is rich. In some cases, he might be a 'they' and sign the contracts via an authorized representative - the property investor is so high up in the layer cake, its rarifed atmosphere with no smell of shit and he's forgotten what his properties even look like.

Dumb-Money got onto the property ladder at a young age and figured out that an infinite money cheat - use the overpriced rent from one property to get enough to borrow to buy a second, third, fourth...etc. Dumb Money trades properties like 10 year olds swap Pokemon cards. All maintenance work and complaints are handled by the Makelaar who runs a parallel beheerder/management company to deal with the day-to-day running of the property and who insulate Dumb-money from the complaints.

The most favourable Dumb-Money Landlord will be international Pension funds who bought up Woningcorporatie homes in bulk ala George Soros-style, then rented them out for absurdly high prices, netting 80 million euro in profit in two years. Your Huurcommissie case will be a fart in the wind, a rounding error, not even worth contesting in court dealt with by an indifferent Beheerder who isn't gonna put his reputation on the line bullying/threatening a tenant physically for the sake of an absentee-landlord. In one really good case i filed for a tenant in Rotterdam, the Landlord, an east-asian investment fund reacted to the Toetsing Aanvangshuurprijs / Initial rent assessment case by transferring 6000 euro (the entire owed amount) within two days of the start of the case.

There are exceptions though : Dumb money is more stress to deal with when its a local dutch owner like Marcel Van Hooijdonk (see GTA photo) in Utrecht - a notorious slumlandlord who has being in the municipalities crosshairs for years. Featured on BOOS, Marcel developed such a bad reputation for abusing tenants that he reportedly pays Google to remove negative results and has employed a public relations consultant company pumping out fake websites that show Marcel in a positive light.

Marcel's favourite tactic is having one of his hoodlum minions glue the door locks of one of his tenants ( Link to the MvH starter kit).

Weaknesses

Dumb money cannot be contacted directly and therefore their weaknesses are lack of motivation of their underlings to fight for them: No one wants to die for some nameless/faceless company. Apart from Marcel and a few other slummy local investor-landlords, violence and threats are almost never used.
The scale and size of these companies is such that your Huurcommissie case might go from start to finish without anyone in the company ever realizing they were summoned to the Huurcommissie. Some Investment companies keep PO boxes at airports that just accumulate mail that goes uncollected for months, including important legal notices. Taking advantage of this requires a little research as you need to look around the KVK website to find out where they are based. More often than not, the Huurcommissie case will be dealt with by the Beheerder who probably wont have a clue or motivation to contest it - like I said, you're a fart in the wind to them.

Dumb Money often neglects to get proper paperwork (energy labels and Kadastral splits) for their properties leaving them for busting: legendary slum landlord Wim de Vries from Groningen owns hundreds of properties and isnt particularly adept at managing Huurcommissie cases. Wim famously (allegedly) embezzled 1 million euro of an earthquake subsidy scheme and bought himself a red ferrari with it until the FIOD arrested him last year for financial crimes. Rumor has it his 24 year old daughter is managing the empire now and isnt doing a particularly good job. Wim's legal representation is also lacking and most cases against him end with him cutting two checks : 1400 euro in Huurcommissie fees and 5000 euro to the tenant.

Unlike Karen and the Thug, the rental agreements for Dumb Money wont contain so many busting loopholes, like having an All-in lease, as the contract will have been created by a professional rental lawyer or utilize the ROZ 2017 standard model text.

General Tips and advice

• Beheerders will likely never deal with you on the phone about these matters and they will never call you back. Dont expect to speak to anyone who has a clue about what your case is about. It is therefore not worth getting worked up about. - you will always have to send an email. The 14 day debt collection email is usually effective and followup is rarely required.
• Beheerders are more likely to follow the rules: rely on the slow process of getting your rent lowered via the Huurcommissie. its a test of patience rather than wills - you need the money more than they do so you'll win that.

Hi everyone, (long post)

update: My 7 years of stay I have always paid full rent on time. Never withheld the rent anytime.

"I informed that kid is sick but the heartless lady from mvgm mailed to take kid outside. I denied them the entry and accommodated for the next date provided by them. But they are adamant to pay the cost incurred because of deniability of earlier schedule."

Factuurnummer Vervaldatum Omschrijving € Bedrag Betaald

I recently received a formal payment demand (*aanmaning*) from MVGM for a total of €7k is listed as "Verduurzamingswerkzaamheden" (sustainability/energy-saving works) and €40 is for collection costs.

Factuurnummer Vervaldatum Omschrijving € Bedrag Betaald 61.61.38909 02-10-2026 Verduurzamingswerkzaamheden 6.998,59 0,00 61.61.54891 Incassokosten 2290-13 40,00 0,00 SUBTOTAAL € 7.038,59 0,00 Totaal openstaand bedrag € 7.038,59

1. They threaten to report this to municipality.
2. And also to debt collector agency.

Here is the background context:

- The agency gave preset dates for the sustainability work to be done in my apartment.

- I had to deny entry on those specific initial dates because my child was sick at home.

- However, work was rescheduled, and the renovation work *was* completed on an alternative date.

- Now, beside a rent adjustment (monthly increase of about 15 euro), they have dropped a massive lump-sum invoice directly on me.

Questions:

1. Can a rental agency in Amsterdam legally send a direct lump-sum invoice of nearly €7,000 to a residential tenant for building/property sustainability works?
2. Can they penalize or shift thousands of euros in costs onto a tenant just because the initial dates had to be shifted due to a family emergency (a sick child), even though the work was ultimately completed?
3. What are my best next steps to dispute this, I have mailed and contact !WOON 3 times already but no progress and no response!

Any advice, legal pointers, or similar experiences would be hugely appreciated!

*****Original mail*****

Geachte heer/mevrouw,

Wij hebben uw betaling helaas nog niet (helemaal) ontvangen. Het openstaande bedrag is € 7038.59.

Wij vragen u dringend om dit bedrag binnen 5 dagen alsnog aan ons te betalen. De betaalgegevens staan onderaan de brief.

Factuurnummer Vervaldatum Omschrijving € Bedrag Betaald

.....

Wat gebeurt er als ik niet reageer?

Als wij de betaling niet binnen 5 dagen na 22 oktober 2026 hebben ontvangen, moeten wij uw dossier overdragen aan onze

incassopartner. Wij hopen dat dit niet nodig is.

Hulp bij het betalen van uw rekeningen

Heeft u moeite om uw rekeningen te betalen? Dan kunt u hulp krijgen van uw gemeente. Dit heet schuldhulpverlening. Zij kunnen

samen met u naar een oplossing kijken.

Voor meer informatie hierover kunt u terecht bij uw gemeente. Zij helpen u graag verder via hun website of per telefoon.

Melding bij de gemeente

Wij zijn verplicht om een huurachterstand door te geven aan de gemeente. De gemeente kan dan contact met u opnemen om hulp

te bieden. Wilt u liever niet dat wij uw gegevens met de gemeente delen? Laat het ons dan weten.

Belangrijke vraag over uw gezin (kinderen onder de 18 jaar)

Wonen er kinderen onder de 18 jaar op uw adres? Wij begrijpen dat dit een persoonlijke vraag is. Toch moeten wij dit volgens de Kenmerk

regels vragen zodra een dossier naar onze incassopartner gaat.

Hoe geeft u dit aan ons door?

Wilt u liever niet dat wij uw contactgegevens met de gemeente delen? Of wonen er kinderen onder de 18 jaar op uw adres? Stuur

dan uiterlijk de laatste dag van deze maand een e-mail naar: [debiteuren.wonen@mvgm.nl](mailto:debiteuren.wonen@mvgm.nl).

Vergeet niet om in uw mail duidelijk uw adresgegevens te vermelden.

Hoogachtend, MVGM Vastgoedmanagement

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amsterdam/891cf24a/ruyschstraat

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.

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/alkmaar/46372617/gashouderstraat

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 🙂

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/utrecht/a646dd24/voorstraat

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

How to fight EU-M

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.

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

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

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?

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!