Rent Increases are Controlled By Law

Before finalizing, you need to send your contract to the Rental Team South Limburg, who will look for totally free to make sure whatever is sensible and legal. You may have to wait as much as one working week to hear back from them. We comprehend that the entire rental process is hectic and that there may not suffice time for contract checks, so if this is not possible, then you should check out your contract yourself. The document will likely remain in Dutch, so non-Dutch speakers will want to get it equated.

When inspecting your agreement, you need to pay attention to:

1. fixed or indefinite contract

An agreement for a set duration includes a last date. This means that the contract ends instantly after the agreed period, supplied that the landlord notifies the occupant in blogging about completion of the lease in excellent time (between one and 3 months before the concurred end-date). Indefinite occupancy contracts continue as long as the tenant keeps paying lease and the property owner does not end the contract. These contracts generally come with a minimum term, before which the renter might not terminate the lease.

2. Basic rent and added fees

The fundamental rent is expected to reflect the quality and surface area of the residential or commercial property. This rental cost only consists of the actual lease. Service charges might be gas, water and electrical power, service costs, web and home insurance coverage. When it concerns rent, it is essential to comprehend the difference between fundamental lease and extra charges. Check our area on rental prices to learn how the system works.

3. Rent boost

Rent boosts are managed by law, and depend on whether your lodging falls under the social or personal housing sector. For social sector lodging, rent boosts might be explained in your rental contract, or can even be proposed by your proprietor a minimum of 2 months before the lease boost would take result. You as a tenant can decline the proposition, and your case might end up before the Rent Tribunal. As a general guideline, lease increases can take place as soon as every 12 months, and usually occur on July 1st. The optimum annual lease increase percentage for the social sector is figured out by the government.

There are less guidelines applying to personal sector accommodation, which means that as a tenant you have less security. Rent can increase every 12 months, nevertheless, increases in between these 12 months are also possible if improvements have been made to the lodging. The proprietor is not obliged to inform you of any lease increases within a set amount of time. If the renter does not desire to pay greater lease, the property manager may end the contract. Watch out for provisions in your contract indicating a set annual lease boost (so-called indexation stipulations). If no indexation provision is included in the contract, the landlord can just increase the rent by providing the tenant a brand-new contract specifying the higher rent (amongst other things). If the occupant does not consent to the new agreement for the very same residential or commercial property, the property owner may then end the contract.

4. Deposit quantity and return

A deposit is typically required, however any quantity worth more than two months of rent is usually thought about unfair. The agreement ought to clearly specify how and when your deposit will be transferred back to you.

Should you sign even if the agreement is not ideal?

If an agreement seems overly challenging on you as a tenant, or looks questionable, it might be a good concept to let it go. Even if you're lacking time to find a place, it may trigger you more difficulty in the long-term to sign a bad contract than to search for short-lived lodging while you take the time to find something that's genuinely worth it.

If you discover a location that you actually enjoy, the contract is acceptable, and the only issue is that the lease is a little high (EUR750+), it can in some cases be a good concept to sign, as there is an opportunity you could get some money back by applying to the Huurteam Zuid-Limburg. You need to tread really carefully here, as there is a caution: in circumstances like this, you always require to presume the worst and be prepared to pay this high lease in complete, on the occasion that the Huurteam Zuid-Limburg can not help you declare any excess rent back. If you do sign an agreement you find costly, contact HTZL within six months to begin a procedure claiming back any excess lease.

You can learn more about treatments to declare back excess rent and company costs here.

Terminating a contract

Terminating an agreement can be a tricky procedure with lots of guidelines surrounding it. In the Netherlands there are generally 2 kinds of rental contracts: a contract for a specified period and a contract for an undefined duration. It is really useful to understand which one you have, because it might make a distinction in how you ought to terminate your contract. The default guideline is that tenancy agreements need to be terminated by notifying. this indicates that you as an occupant send your property owner an official letter notifying them that you wish to terminate the rental arrangement. You do not need to provide a reason for termination, and termination remains in principle unilateral, which means that you do not require the landlord to consent to it.

Contract for an undefined period

In this kind of contract, a minimum duration (for example 12 months) is allowed. During this minimum period, you can not end your contract, unless the proprietor agrees. The property manager can set conditions to concur to this, for example, you might pay an additional month's rent or be needed to find a beginner to take over the contract. After the minimum duration you can end the agreement with the appropriate notice period.

The advantage of this type of contract is that the property owner can not end your agreement easily. There needs to be legal reasons.

Contract for a defined duration

In this type of agreement (most typically a 12-month contract) there is a date the contract begins and a date the contract ends. This contract can not have a minimum duration and for that reason you can end the agreement throughout the specified period if you provide appropriate notification.

The downside is that the property manager has an easy method to end your agreement on the end date of the defined period. The landlord just needs to let you know 1 to 3 months before completion date that the contract is going to end, they do not require legal factors to end the contract on that date. If the landlord does not advise the occupant of completion date and the tenant lives longer than the defined period, the contract automatically into a contract for an undefined period. You do not require a brand-new contract for that, the old contract immediately alters, and the rest of the agreement stays valid.

If you want to terminate your contract as a renter, often the contract lets you understand how to provide right notice. This can be a contact form through a site of a firm, or an e-mail to the landlord/agency. If the contract does not discuss how to give notice, the right way to end the contract is sending a letter through signed up post, stating that you wish to end the rental arrangement per that date. You might likewise email the letter initially, however if you do not get a reaction, you should still send out the letter via registered post to be sure. We advise that you send both a letter and an e-mail. You can download a sample of a formal letter offering notification here.

You still must deal with a correct notification period when cancelling your lease. Normally, the notification equates to the regard to payment, which has been written down in the contract. For example, if you pay lease monthly, you should offer one month's notification *. Unless differently stated in the rental arrangement, the cancellation of the lease requires to be received by the proprietor before the first day of the month.

* One FULL month (e.g. implying you can not end the agreement on the 15th of April for the 16th of May. If you notify on the 15th of April, you can only end the contract by the 31st of May/1st of June).