Point-based renting in Netherlands: an old tradition against speculation (elDiario.es, 1 June 2019)

• Point-based house renting in the Netherlands: a centuries-old tradition against speculating with property

• Original headline in Spanish: El alquiler por puntos en Holanda: una tradición centenaria contra la especulación

• By Alberto Arnaldo. Published in Eldiario.es on 1 June 2019

• https://www.eldiario.es/internacional/alquiler-Holanda-tradicion-centenaria-especulacion_0_905010121.html

• Summary from Google Translate:

  • Since 1917, the Dutch institutions have maintained the Huurcommissie, or Rental Commission. The arrival of refugees in a country that chose to remain neutral in the First World War, along with a break in housing construction due to the conflict, created the perfect scenario for the appearance of rents with abusive prices. (...)

  • The Huurcommissie has been balancing the balance between speculation and the right to housing for more than a hundred years. Several modifications, the last one in 2010 to centralize the multiple local commissions in one, have shaped the range of current mechanisms and powers of the entity.

  • Despite the fact that it does not promote its services as an impartial body and consequently it is little known even among the Dutch themselves, anyone who rents a house or room in the country has the right to request their intermediation to clarify issues such as community expenses, the need for repairs and maintenance or the amount of the rent, determined based on a point system.

• Keywords: Netherlands, rental control, rental laws, affordability, speculation, big landlords, investment funds, investment banks, regulation