Amsterdam to implement rental ban on new owner-occupied homes

The municipality of Amsterdam is working on implementing a rental ban on new owner-occupied homes, in an attempt to prevent new homes from being bought up by investors and then rented out for hefty sums, the municipality said in a press statement. The ban will not only apply to the first buyer, but also to the people who later buy the home.

"Newly built owner-occupied homes are increasingly being bought up by investors, with the aim of letting them out at often huge rental prices", construction alderman Laurens Ivens said. "These investors can pay prices that Amsterdammers who want to live there themselves cannot compete with. In this way Amsterdam quickly becomes unaffordable, with high rental and purchase prices." He hopes that a rental ban will prevent this.

Amsterdam would have liked to also implement a rental ban on existing owner-occupied homes. "But for that it seems a law change is necessary", Ivens said.

The municipality is currently investigating whether exceptions can be made in the ban, for example for renting to family members. The city aims to have a concrete proposal for such a rental ban ready by the end of the year.