Rent decrease up to €200 in the works for thousands of tenants

Thousands of tenants may qualify for a reduction in their home rental prices by up to 200 euros by way of an adjustment to the points system that determines maximum rent. In many cases the tenants themselves will have to initiate contact with housing corporations to get the rent reductions, as the landlords themselves are not obligated to make the adjustment automatically, Marcel Trip told AD. Trip, the spokesman for housing association Woonbond, said tenants should conduct home inspections and submit the findings to their landlords. Despite this, many housing corporations see it as their responsibility to implement rent decreases before tenants come forward to report a new valuation. About 1,838 households in Utrecht will benefit from the work at housing agency Mitros, and will see their rent fall by as much as 200 euros. Another 2,500 tenants at Woonstad Rotterdam should see prices decrease anywhere from a few cents up to 90 euros. Renters working with Staedion in the Hague will see rent drop by no more than 45 euros, benefitting 1,415 households. The 1,260 affected tenants at Alliantie could see a decrease of 30 euros. Dutch urban planner Hugo Priemus, a professor emeritus at TU Delft, is worried not all companies will follow suit, as they have no deadlines to beat. The annual reduction could cost companies hundreds of thousands of euros, putting them in a difficult financial position. This gives firms further cause to make obtaining the rent discount a challenge, Priemus fears.