Exploitation commonplace: Hague inspector on enforcing rent regulation in mid-segment
Municipal inspectors have found many examples of rent exploitation since cities started enforcing the Affordable Rent Act on January 1, NOS reports after spending the day with an inspector from The Hague. “Slum landlordism of the highest order,” inspector Anjo Hoogendoorn of the municipality of The Hague said.
He’s seen a 30-square-meter home rented for 1,800 euros. He found ten migrant workers sleeping crammed together in appalling conditions and coughing up 5,000 euros in rent per month. And a 60-square-meter home was divided and rented to four tenants.
“These are very small rooms with a lot of mold. And the monthly rent per room is 650 euros. Well, we just did a rental calculation, and that came down to 265 euros,” Hoogendoorn said about the last-mentioned home. “In total, the landlord received 2,600 euros in his account every month, while this home is worth much less. Scandalous and downright antisocial.”
Hoogendoorn has also noticed a new practice in which the lease agreement states a different amount than what the tenant actually pays. In one case, the lease for a 30-square-meter home stated the rent was 1,100 euros per month, but the residents said they pay 1,800 euros. “You see that more and more often,” the inspector told NOS. “Landlords realize that we pay attention to this, so they write something else in the contract. Then an additional 700 euros has to be paid under the table.”
Municipalities started actively enforcing the Affordable Rent Act on January 1 and issuing fines to violators. The law, which took effect in July 2024, extends the points system that applies to social housing to the mid-market sector for rents up to 1,184 euros for a home with 186 points.
Several municipalities told NOS that they are already investigating the first reports and have hired additional people for enforcement. The municipality of Amsterdam also launched a campaign to inform people about their tenancy rights.
