The first of July, the Good
Landlordship Act will come into effect.
This act provides
more options for municipalities
to protect tenants
from undesirable behaviour
by landlords and rental agents.
There will be a national standard
for good landlordship.
A landlord is not allowed
to discriminate against tenants.
The landlord is not allowed
to reject a tenant
based on characteristics
irrelevant for the renting of a property.
Like heritage, disability,
or sexual orientation.
A landlord is not allowed
to intimidate a tenant.
Like threatening
to terminate the tenancy agreement
or to shut off electricity.
A landlord can ask for a deposit of
no more than two months' basic rent.
A landlord is not allowed
to charge unreasonable service costs.
They have to give the tenant
an annual statement of these costs.
A tenancy agreement
has to be recorded in writing.
A landlord has to inform the tenant
on the general rights and obligations
concerning the rental property.
Like the rules about
the annual rent increase.
The tenant should know where
to ask questions about the property.
Rental agencies aren't allowed
to charge double mediation fees.
If the rental agency
works for the landlord,
they aren't allowed
to charge the tenant as well.
These are so-called agreement costs
or administration costs.
If the landlord rents to a migrant worker,
these rules also apply.
And the landlord has to
record the tenancy agreement
separately from
the employment contract.
The information
the landlord has to give the tenant
has to be provided in
the migrant worker's preferred language.
Does your landlord fail to comply
with any of these rules?
You can report this to your municipality.
From the first of January 2024,
each municipality
has to have a contact point for tenants.
They can help you,
and they can enforce the rules.
Apart from this standard, municipalities
can establish a rental permit
for vulnerable areas.
For renting to migrant workers,
municipalities may also
establish such a permit.
This allows them to set requirements
for the quality of the property.
