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.