Two Amsterdam tenants had great success in reporting their landlord to the Huurcommissie rent tribunal for charging them exorbitant rent. The Huurcommissie ordered the landlord to lower the rent for a small, leaky, drafty room on Keizersgracht from 1,950 euros to temporarily 95 euros per month. The rent for another room in the same building was lowered from 1,200 euros to temporarily 93 euros.
  • 342345@feddit.deEnglish
    140·
    10 months ago

    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.

        • Lodra@programming.devEnglish
          104·
          10 months ago

          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.

          • nillocEnglish
            41·
            10 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.

      • Bocky@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        10 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.

    • Bob@feddit.nlEnglish
      12·
      10 months ago

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