Case law
Huurcommissie
The Huurcommissie is an impartial and independent dispute-resolution body for tenants and landlords, operating since 1917. It rules on rent levels, rent increases and reductions, service charges and maintenance defects, and publishes its earlier decisions in a searchable register. It also sets out its own policy in public policy books, covering defects, the points systems for self-contained and non-self-contained dwellings, service charges, fees and its procedural rules. Those policy books are what the committee and its inspectors actually apply in individual cases.
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What this source does not give you
The Huurcommissie is not a general-purpose rent court. It handles the case types assigned to it by rent-price legislation, so it does not rule on eviction, termination of the lease, nuisance or damages; those belong to the subdistrict court. Which assessment a tenant can ask for also depends on the segment: the Huurcommissie maintains separate routes for the social and mid-market sector and for the liberalised sector, and refers tenants to central-government guidance to determine which applies.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is a Huurcommissie decision binding?
- Article 7:262 of the Dutch Civil Code settles this indirectly but firmly: once the Huurcommissie has ruled on a tenant's or landlord's request, the parties are deemed to have agreed what the decision determined, unless one of them applies to the court within eight weeks of the decision being sent, on the point the decision was requested about. No further appeal lies against that court ruling. In practice: let the eight weeks pass and the decision stands.
- What does a Huurcommissie procedure cost?
- The tenant pays 25 euro in fees up front, the landlord 500 euro. A party that wins outright bears no costs and is refunded; a party that loses pays. Landlords face higher tariffs on repetition: 700 euro for a second and 1400 euro for a third loss on the same statutory provision within three calendar years. Parties on a minimum income can request an exemption. If the fee is not paid, or paid late, the procedure stops.
- What use are the Huurcommissie's policy books?
- The policy books set out the standards the Huurcommissie applies itself: the defects book with its categories of defects, the points systems for self-contained and non-self-contained dwellings, policy on service charges, rent increases and rent increases after home improvement, the fee regime and the procedural rules. They are public and revised periodically. That makes them the most direct way to gauge in advance how a case is likely to go, before you even look at earlier decisions.
- Does the Huurcommissie handle liberalised-sector cases too?
- The Huurcommissie maintains separate routes for tenants in the social and mid-market sector and for tenants in the liberalised sector, and offers both groups tools such as the rent-price check and the defects check. Liberalised tenancies are governed by different rules than social and mid-market ones, however, and which assessment is available depends on the segment the dwelling falls into. The Huurcommissie refers tenants to central-government guidance for that classification.