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In many countries, a landlord can ask any rent they like. The Netherlands is different. For many homes, Dutch law sets a maximum rent that the landlord is allowed to ask, based on a points system. If you pay more than that, you can ask for the extra money back. Many expats pay too much without knowing it, because they sign their contract quickly, often from abroad. This guide explains, step by step, how to check your rent and what to do if it's too high. You don't need to know anything about Dutch housing to follow it.
The idea in simple words
The Dutch government gives every home a score in points, a bit like a school test. A home gets points for its size, its kitchen, its bathroom, its garden or balcony, and more. A bigger, better home gets more points.
The points decide the maximum rent the landlord may ask. Few points means a low maximum rent. Very many points (187 or more) means there is no limit at all.
If your rent is higher than your home's points allow, the government's rent tribunal (the Huurcommissie) can lower it. It costs €25, and you get that back if you win. The landlord then has to give back what you paid too much.
The most important facts
- Points decide the maximum rent: a home with up to 143 points is Cheaper homes for people with lower incomes. They have the lowest maximum rent. Most belong to housing associations, which are non-profit landlords., and its rent can be at most €932.93 a month in 2026. A home with 144 to 186 points is Homes in the middle: more expensive than social housing, but still with a legal maximum rent. In Dutch: middenhuur., and its rent can be at most €1,228.07. A home with 187 points or more is Homes with no legal maximum rent. The landlord and the tenant agree on any rent they like. In Dutch: vrije sector., so the landlord may ask any rent.
- Mid-rent rules only count if you signed your contract on or after 1 July 2024.
- The 6-month deadline: in the first 6 months after you start renting, the The Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal) is an independent government service that settles rent arguments between tenants and landlords. Its decisions count by law. can lower your rent, and the lower rent then counts from your very first day. This works whatever your contract says.
- Cost: €25 for you as the tenant. You get it back if you win.
- You can't lose your home for this: a landlord is not allowed to end your contract because you asked for a rent check.
Words you need to know first
Dutch rent rules use a few words that are new to most people. Here they are in plain English:
- Landlord: the person or company that owns the home and rents it to you.
- Tenant: you, the person who rents the home and pays the rent.
- Tenancy: the time you rent the home. It usually starts on the day the contract says you can move in.
- Basic rent (kale huur): only the money for the home itself. It doesn't include extra costs, like cleaning of shared hallways, energy or furniture. The legal maximum rent is only about the basic rent.
- Service costs (servicekosten): extra money for things the landlord arranges for you, like cleaning, a caretaker or furniture.
- Huurcommissie (Rent Tribunal): the government service that can check your rent and tell your landlord to lower it. Its online rent check is free. Asking it to decide costs €25, which you get back if you win.
Which homes have a maximum rent
Every A home with its own front door, its own kitchen and its own toilet, like a normal flat or house. A room in a shared house is not self-contained. gets a score in points. The Dutch name for this points system is woningwaarderingsstelsel, or Short for woningwaarderingsstelsel, which means home valuation system. It is the official list of what each part of a home is worth in points. for short. The score sets the maximum basic rent the landlord may ask:
| Points | Type of home | Maximum basic rent, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 143 | Social housing | Up to €932.93, depending on the points |
| 144 to 186 | Mid-rent (middenhuur) | Up to €1,228.07, depending on the points |
| 187 or more | Free sector | No maximum rent |
Every single point has its own maximum rent. So a home with 160 points has a lower maximum rent than a home with 186 points. Two things decide which rules count for you:
- When you signed your contract. If you signed before 1 July 2024, only the social housing limit counts. The mid-rent rules didn't exist yet. So a home with 144 points or more could be rented out for any price.
- What you rent. A room in a shared house has its own points system. A room always has a maximum rent, whatever the contract says.
Why does the mid-rent group matter so much for expats? Because many normal flats fall into it. A modern flat with one bedroom in Amsterdam, Utrecht or The Hague can rent for €1,400 and still easily score less than 187 points. If you signed your contract in July 2024 or later, the landlord isn't allowed to ask more than the maximum rent for those points. The new rules come from a law called the A Dutch law (Wet betaalbare huur) that started on 1 July 2024. It added the mid-rent group, so many more homes now have a legal maximum rent. (Wet betaalbare huur).
"Free sector" in the advert doesn't decide it
A landlord or an advert may say the home is "free sector". That doesn't make it true. Only the points decide. If the home has 186 points or fewer, it has a maximum rent, whatever the contract or the advert says.
How the points are counted
The points are about the home itself: its size and how good it is. They are not about how popular or expensive the neighbourhood is. These are the main things that give points:
| What is scored | How it works |
|---|---|
| Size of the home | Points for each square metre of the rooms. Other spaces, like an attic or a storage room, give fewer points. Size usually gives the most points of all. |
| A grade from A (uses little energy, cheap to heat) to G (uses a lot of energy). Every home that is sold or rented out should have one. | A good label gives extra points. The worst labels take points away: label E takes away 4 points, F takes away 9 and G takes away 15. |
| The value of a home in euros, set by the town or city once a year. It is used for taxes. Anyone can look it up for free. | What the The local government of your town or city. In Dutch: gemeente. It registers where you live and collects some local taxes. says the home is worth. For homes that would score 187 points or more, the WOZ value may give at most 33% (one third) of all the points. If that rule takes the home below 187 points, it gets 186 points. So it stays in the mid-rent group and keeps a maximum rent. |
| Kitchen and bathroom | How long the kitchen worktop is, the equipment, and the number of toilets, showers, baths and washbasins. |
| Outdoor space | Your own garden, balcony or roof terrace gives points. A garden you share with neighbours gives fewer points. |
| Other things | Heating, a parking space, whether the home is easy to enter for people in a wheelchair, and whether it is a protected historic building. |
The one-third rule for the WOZ value is why the system matters so much in big cities. Homes in Amsterdam are worth a lot of money, even when they are small. Before 2024, that high value alone could give a small flat so many points that it had no maximum rent at all. Now the size and quality of the home count for more.
How to check your rent in 30 minutes
- Find your basic rent (kale huur) in your contract. This is the rent without service costs, energy or furniture.
- Look up the WOZ value of your address on wozwaardeloket.nl. It's free and you don't need to log in.
- Look up the energy label on ep-online.nl. If the home has no label, the rent check works it out from the year the building was built.
- Measure your rooms. Measure from wall to wall, at the floor. The rent check explains what counts. Low spaces under a sloping roof may count for less, or not at all.
- Write down what the home has: how long the kitchen worktop is, the toilets, showers and washbasins, and any garden or balcony and its size.
- Fill in the Huurcommissie's rent check (huurprijscheck). This is a free form on their website, in English. At the end, it tells you the points and the maximum rent.
Compare the result with your basic rent only. If your basic rent is higher than the maximum rent from the check, you probably pay too much. Many cities also have a free help service for tenants, called a A free local service that helps tenants with problems with their rent or landlord. Many cities have one, and they usually speak English., such as !WOON in Amsterdam. Someone from the huurteam can come to your home, measure it and do the check with you.
Watch for rent hidden in other costs
When the basic rent has a limit, some landlords try a trick. They move part of the rent into the service costs or into a fee for furniture. This isn't allowed. Service costs must match what the landlord really spends. Every year, you have the right to a list that shows what each cost is for. The Huurcommissie can check service costs too, and lower them if they are too high.
What you can do: in the first 6 months, or later
What you can do depends on how long you have been renting the home:
| Your situation | What you can do |
|---|---|
| In the first 6 months after your tenancy started, for any type of home | Ask the Huurcommissie to check your starting rent (in Dutch: toetsing aanvangshuurprijs). If the rent is too high, the lower rent counts from the first day of your contract. The landlord must give back everything you paid too much. |
| After 6 months, in a social housing or mid-rent home | Write to your landlord and ask for a lower rent. This letter is called a proposal. If the landlord says no, or doesn't answer, take it to the Huurcommissie. The lower rent then counts from the date in your letter, not from the start of your contract. |
| After 6 months, in a free sector home with 187 points or more | The Huurcommissie can no longer decide about the rent. The only exception is a A contract that ends on a fixed date. Since 1 July 2024, landlords may only use one for some groups, such as students. of up to 2 years. |
The 6-month deadline is the most important date in this article. If you moved in recently, do the check now. Only in those first 6 months can you get back every euro you paid too much.
Did you miss the 6 months? There is still something you can do. If your home has 186 points or fewer and you signed your contract on 1 July 2024 or later, the maximum rent still counts by law. You can still ask for a lower rent from now on. You can also report the landlord to your municipality. Since 1 January 2025, municipalities check that landlords keep to the maximum rents. They can give a landlord a fine for asking too much. Every municipality has a free place where you can report bad landlords, and you can usually do it without giving your name.
How the Huurcommissie works, step by step
- Apply online on the Huurcommissie website. You can log in with Your personal login for Dutch government websites, like a digital ID card. You get it after you register at your municipality..
- Pay €25. If the Huurcommissie decides that you are right, the landlord has to pay you the €25 back.
- An inspector may visit. This is a person from the Huurcommissie who comes to measure the home. Later there is often a meeting, called a hearing, where you and the landlord can both explain your side.
- Expect it to take months. Keep paying your full rent while you wait. If you stop paying, the landlord gets a real reason to take you to court.
- The decision counts by law. You and the landlord must follow it, unless one of you takes it to the The kantonrechter: the local court for everyday cases such as rent, work and small debts. You don't need a lawyer there. within 8 weeks.
Can my landlord end my contract because of this?
No. Since 1 July 2024, a new rental contract is a A contract with no end date. You can stay as long as you keep to the rules, such as paying the rent. unless the law allows something else. A landlord can only end it for a reason the law allows, and only through a judge. Asking for a rent check is not one of those reasons. Temporary contracts are only allowed for some groups, such as students. If you have a temporary contract, the Huurcommissie can still check your rent. Our guide to renting an apartment or house in the Netherlands explains the types of contract, deposits and agency fees.
Rent increases: the 2026 limits
Most landlords raise the rent once a year. Once your rent is correct, the law also limits how much it can go up each year. Rising rent is also one reason some expats start to think about buying: our rent or buy calculator compares the two for the years you plan to stay.
| Type of home | Maximum increase |
|---|---|
| Social housing | 4.1% (from 1 July 2026) |
| Mid-rent | 6.1% (2026) |
| Free sector | 4.4% (2026) |
For example: if your rent is €1,000 and the limit is 4.4%, the rent can go up by at most €44, to €1,044. An increase above the limit doesn't count, so you don't have to pay it. And in a mid-rent home, an increase can never take your rent above the maximum rent for the home's points.
Other money you may be paying too much
- Money paid to a rental agent (makelaar) for finding a home or arranging the contract.: if the agent works for the landlord, they aren't allowed to charge you a fee. If you paid one, you can ask for it back.
- Money you give the landlord at the start, as a safety. You get it back when you move out, minus the cost of any damage or unpaid rent.: at most 2 months of basic rent, for contracts since 1 July 2023.
- Rent allowance: this is money from the government to help pay the rent. If your rent goes down, or your income is not very high, check whether you can get rent allowance (huurtoeslag). If you already get it and your rent goes down, tell the government within 4 weeks.
Our cost of living calculator shows normal rents in each Dutch city. So you can see if your rent looks too high before you even count the points.
Your rent check checklist
- Write down the date you signed your contract and the date your tenancy started.
- Find your basic rent, the WOZ value and the energy label.
- Measure the rooms and do the Huurcommissie's rent check, or ask your city's huurteam to help.
- Less than 6 months since you started renting? Apply to the Huurcommissie. It costs €25.
- More than 6 months? Write to your landlord and ask for a lower rent. If that doesn't work, go to the Huurcommissie.
- Keep paying your full rent until the Huurcommissie has decided.
Official sources and useful links
- Huurcommissie: rent check for a self-contained home (English)
- Huurcommissie: the Affordable Rent Act for tenants (Dutch)
- Volkshuisvesting Nederland: changes to the points system (Dutch)
- Rijksoverheid: maximum rent increases in 2026 (Dutch)
- WOZ-waardeloket: look up the WOZ value of any address
- EP-online: look up a home's energy label
This is general information based on the 2026 rules. The maximum rents change every year on 1 January, and the points system has more detail than we can explain here. The Huurcommissie's rent check and decision set your real maximum rent.
