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Amsterdam landlord ordered to lower rent for tiny, leaky room from €1,950 to €95 per month (nltimes.nl)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 139 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

95€ temporarily until the defects are fixed. Then the 20qm room is worth a rent of 477€.

The Huurcommissie scored the appointment on a point scale, and determined the reasonable rental price should have been 476.85 euros per month. The tribunal then noted that the tenant was unable to lock their own bedroom. Additionally, the wood-framed kitchen skylight had a 10 millimeter crack in it, causing drafts, and the toilet tank in a shared bathroom was leaking.

The tribunal further lowered the rent to 95.37 euros until the damage is fixed, saying it could find no evidence the landlord actually tried to fix the problems. This can gradually increase as repairs are carried out to the maximum of just under 477 euros. The reduction was also backdated to September 1 from the ruling, which was filed at the end of December and published more recently. As a result, the landlord must repay the overpaid rent in the intervening months.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Good. Fuck that landlord.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Fuck all landlords

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No. There are good landlords. They’re definitely small scale. Normal homeowners that are able to scale their efforts to a few rental units. There’s also a real need for renting rather than owning.

The real problems are all large scale landlords and also bad landlords (of all sizes) that overcharge, abuse tenants, forgo maintenance, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah my FIL, just recently sold a condo in FL. He’s had it since the 1980s and for the last 25 years it’s been rented by an elderly woman for basically the cost of condo fees, taxes and maintenance (though I think he lost money upgrading the sliding door after a hurricane). It was supposed to be where he retired to (15 years ago), but his wife had Alzheimer’s, so he ended up selling it when his tenant finally died, and sunk all the profit right back into his wife’s nursing home.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

*that scam people

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And he owes around 5k€ in back rent! That is proper justice for once.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Not much of a hit considering the landlord is giving back the money they shouldn’t have received in the first place.

Would be better if they had to give back money out of their own pocket in the form of a fine.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

Still, €477 to live on Keizeersgracht, not to mention the backpay. I'm needing a poo just thinking about it.

[–] [email protected] 119 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Me: Mom, can we please have Huurcommissie?

Mom: No, we have Huurcommissie at home.

Huurcommissie at home: landlord fined for charging 'too little' in rent

[–] [email protected] 44 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What the actual fuck

[–] [email protected] 47 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The argument is: if your rent is that cheap, you probably have a side deal going on (like extra pay or work for housing) to avoid taxes and/or social security contributions.

I'm not saying the present system is great, I'm just explaining it and unfortunately some people indeed try "save" taxes that way.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure this is exactly the argument, I understood it as: "You rent out so cheap you don't want to make a profit, and if you don't want to make a profit you can't make deductions in relation to your properties." Which I don't find great either.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Mh, I don't think this only affects deductions. Otherwise people could just waive their right do deduct costs related to the housing units discussed in the article. I don't think this would make a huge difference, i.e. I don't think the deductible costs are that significant.

However, if you don't pay your janitor or your nanny properly, but provide them with cheap housing instead, you can (illegally) save a lot of money.

Anyway, that's my guess, but I'm very open to new knowledge. :)

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Not trying to defend the decision, but as far as I know, the reasoning is that if you charge significantly less than you could, it might be because you have other undisclosed agreements with the tenants, like them doing some extra chores for you, repairing the flat or something else. This way, you could avoid a lot of taxes. The sentence also doesn't seem to be a fine in the narrow sense, but rather a demand of additional taxes. If I'm not mistaken, it's perfectly legal to charge very little for a flat, but you still have to pay taxes as if you would have rented it out for a regular price.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It’s weird to me that the taxes are based on how much your charge your tenants? Not on land value, or land use

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

Income tax is not a thing where you live?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (7 children)

That should be separate & regardless of rent (or no rent), but rent is income and should be treated as such.

If rent was taxed at 95% we would see much less inflation pressures & more homeowners.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Or simply getting the "rest" of the rent in cash

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Ah this is why you need you to pay your monthly minimum rent insurance.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 8 months ago

NYC landlords renting out literal rat nests for $4000 reading this

[–] [email protected] 40 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Why did anyone pay, and keep paying, 1,950 or 1,200 euros for such a shitty rooms in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

The process of getting house/room in many areas in the Netherlands is full of bureaucracy. We can't simply get a place and move there straight away. We need to register with the local councils and the requirements and regulations each local councils vary between places. Many times, it becomes catch-22 situation, e.g. you need to already have a job, but to get a job you need to register. That's why some people are desperate enough that they move to shitty places.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What? You can just move somewhere if you have a place to live and then you register with the Council.

Registration is post moving and required.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

yes you can just move in. but that doesn't mean that you'll be allowed to register and stay if you don't meet the requirements. So at the end you need to find a place where you meet requirement. I know because I was one of those who at first didn't meet the local council criteria at 'this' specific area of the city there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t that just social housing? Commercial landlords (particuliere huur) don’t really care that much about requirements, other than you having a certain level of income. (And they might demand a ridiculous income at that)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Not just ~~commercial landlord~~ social housing; it applies to the whole local council area. Just to give you a generally applicable example, i.e. when the local council want to build up a certain area that used to be problematic area (high crime rate etc), they increase the requirements to move there, thus making it more difficult to move there. Those who wants to register there need to already secure employment and show that they are favourable tenants economically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Who told you this? The gemeente or someone associated with the landlord.

Cause it reads like the landlord was illegally renting out and did not want the gemeente to know and thus did not want you to register on the address.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

No. I assume you are a local citizen so you won't have to experience this kind of situation.

For my specific situation, I straight away move in apply to register for the first time once there. I follow the local council regulation. There's nothing illegal in there. But as a non-EUs it's more complicated because need to get a local bank account, prove of employment (contract) etc. If we can't meet the full criteria, there won't simply complete the registration. So, yes as you wrote before, we can register post moving. But no, when we apply to register, it doesn't mean the registration can be completed smoothly.

Just Google and compare the process to move in to The Netherlands to other counries. I'll be very skeptical if someone said that in the Netherlands the process is easy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm an EU citizen but not from NL. When I moved here I did have to have the bank account, address etc in the right order but to be honest I still found it very easy. It took only one appointment to get it all sorted (because I had all the elements that were clearly explained to me ahead of time). My wife is non-EU and it was a bit more complicated to get the residency but again, very efficient administration.

You should try the same thing in a country like France with total bureaucratic nightmare where they will make you come back 20 times because they need a slightly different version of document 28-B signed by the landlord, your deceased mother and the president.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I haven't tried any other EU country apart from the NL. Although I think it's bureaucratic, but I do find it to be efficient and systematic. Anyway, many of the problem won't usually be experienced by the local and expats but by the newcomers e.g. non-local students in the Netherlands who is transitioning to working life there. It becomes more difficult because the real housing in the NL are very limited and in high demand.

In the UK it was really easy. No need to register at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Can't argue about the housing!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Fair enough, I am a Dutch national. I have guided over 50 colleagues in an international company through the process. But indeed, the bank account and proof of employment is part of the requirement and we arrange that as part of the employment package for expats. So by the time housing is up for arranging the rest is already taken care of.

And I definately understand the dauntless task if you need to figure it out alone.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Because housing is basically extortion in big European cities. It's like there's a global conspiracy to stop building new housing and lower interest rates so real estate value skyrocket.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Yeah, zoning laws mostly exist to keep property prices up by restricting supply -- which mainly benefits the already well-off.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit can I rent it

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For €95 a month I would happily make some of my own little repairs and temporary fixes lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

But then the price goes up again :( It's only €95 because of the problems in the room. When fixed it goes to about €470, which is still all right I guess for that location in Amsterdam.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

You love to see it. The landlord in question is a notorious piece of shit here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is he? Who is it? Never heard of an infamous landlord in Amsterdam.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

It's Cees van Leeuwen. Someone went into a lot of detail about him in this reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/19auxx5/tales_from_the_huurcommissie_4_the_poor_landlord/

And his bullshit has been covered in the news before:

https://archive.ph/b1Lbr#selection-1009.139-1009.155

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

God damn that was a depressing read.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Right? Dude is ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago

Just came.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Based Netherlands.

I live in Bristol. A shithole like that would probably cost you Β£1050 PCM.

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