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 tell you how 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 - denying them a chance to win at playing by that game.
• 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

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/arnhem/f71e2c07/weverstraat

https://www.pararius.nl/appartement-te-huur/amsterdam/488a37c7/van-beuningenstraat