Before finalizing, you must send your agreement to the Rental Team South Limburg, who will examine for totally free to make sure everything is sensible and legal. You might have to wait as much as one working week to hear back from them. We comprehend that the entire rental procedure is fast-paced and that there may not suffice time for agreement checks, so if this is not possible, then you must read through your agreement yourself. The document will likely be in Dutch, so non-Dutch speakers will desire to get it translated.

When examining your contract, you should take notice of:

1. fixed or indefinite agreement

A contract for a set duration includes a last date. This means that the contract ends immediately after the predetermined duration, provided that the landlord informs the occupant in discussing completion of the lease in good time (in between one and 3 months before the concurred end-date). Indefinite tenancy agreements continue as long as the occupant keeps paying lease and the proprietor does not terminate the contract. These agreements typically feature a minimum term, before which the occupant might not terminate the lease.

2. Basic rent and service charges

The basic rent is supposed to reflect the quality and area of the residential or commercial property. This rental cost only consists of the actual rent. Added fees may be gas, water and electrical energy, service expenses, internet and home insurance coverage. When it pertains to rent, it is essential to comprehend the distinction in between standard lease and added fees. Check our area on rental costs to discover out how the system works.

3. Rent boost

Rent boosts are controlled by law, and depend on whether your accommodation falls under the social or private housing sector. For social sector lodging, rent increases might be described in your rental agreement, or can even be proposed by your landlord a minimum of 2 months before the lease increase would work. You as a tenant can decline the proposition, and your case might wind up before the Rent Tribunal. As a basic rule, lease increases can take place as soon as every 12 months, and usually take place on July 1st. The maximum annual lease boost percentage for the social sector is figured out by the government.

There are less guidelines using to private sector accommodation, which indicates that as an occupant you have less security. Rent can increase every 12 months, nevertheless, increases in between these 12 months are likewise possible if enhancements have actually been made to the accommodation. The property owner is not obliged to notify you of any lease increases within a set amount of time. If the tenant does not want to pay higher rent, the landlord might terminate the agreement. Watch out for provisions in your contract suggesting a set yearly lease boost (so-called indexation clauses). If no indexation provision is consisted of in the contract, the property manager can only increase the rent by offering the renter a brand-new agreement specifying the higher rent (among other things). If the renter does not consent to the brand-new contract for the same residential or commercial property, the proprietor might then end the contract.

4. Deposit amount and return

A deposit is generally required, but any quantity worth more than two months of lease is generally thought about unjust. The contract ought to clearly define how and when your deposit will be moved back to you.

Should you sign even if the agreement is not ideal?

If a contract seems extremely troublesome on you as an occupant, or looks sketchy, it may be a good concept to let it go. Even if you're lacking time to discover a location, it may trigger you more problem in the long-lasting to sign a bad contract than to look for momentary lodging while you put in the time to discover something that's genuinely worth it.

If you find a place that you actually love, the agreement is satisfying, and the only concern is that the rent is a little high (EUR750+), it can in some cases be an excellent idea to sign, as there is a chance you might get some cash back by using to the Huurteam Zuid-Limburg. You ought to tread extremely carefully here, as there is a caveat: in scenarios like this, you always need to presume the worst and be prepared to pay this steep rent in full, on the occasion that the Huurteam Zuid-Limburg can not help you claim any excess rent back. If you do sign an agreement you discover costly, contact HTZL within six months to start a procedure declaring back any excess lease.

You can learn more about procedures to claim back excess rent and firm charges here.

Terminating a contract

Terminating an agreement can be a difficult procedure with lots of guidelines surrounding it. In the Netherlands there are generally 2 kinds of rental arrangements: a contract for a specified duration and a contract for an undefined duration. It is very helpful to know which one you have, because it could make a difference in how you ought to terminate your agreement. The default rule is that tenancy agreements have actually to be terminated by offering notice. this implies that you as a tenant send your landlord a formal letter informing them that you want to terminate the rental arrangement. You do not have to offer a factor for termination, and termination remains in principle unilateral, which indicates that you don't need the landlord to permission to it.

Contract for an undefined period

In this type of agreement, a minimum duration (for example 12 months) is permitted. During this minimum duration, you can not end your agreement, unless the proprietor agrees. The property owner can set conditions to accept this, for example, you might pay an additional month's lease or be required to discover a new to take over the agreement. After the minimum period you can end the contract with the right notification duration.

The benefit of this type of contract is that the property manager can not end your agreement quickly. There requires to be legal reasons.

Contract for a specified period

In this type of agreement (most often a 12-month contract) there is a date the agreement starts and a date the contract ends. This contract can not have a minimum period and therefore you can end the contract throughout the specified period if you offer correct notice.

The drawback is that the proprietor has an easy method to end your agreement on the end date of the specified period. The property manager just requires to let you understand 1 to 3 months before the end date that the contract is going to end, they do not need legal reasons to end the agreement on that date. If the proprietor does not advise the tenant of the end date and the tenant lives longer than the defined duration, the contract automatically turns into a contract for an undefined duration. You do not need a new contract for that, the old agreement automatically changes, and the rest of the contract remains valid.

If you want to end your agreement as a renter, frequently the agreement lets you understand how to offer correct notice. This can be a contact form by means of a website of an agency, or an email to the landlord/agency. If the contract does not point out how to give notice, the proper way to end the contract is sending a letter by means of registered post, specifying that you wish to end the rental contract per that date. You could also email the letter initially, but if you do not get an action, you need to still send out the letter through signed up post to be sure. We suggest that you send both a letter and an e-mail. You can download a sample of an official letter offering notice here.
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You still must handle an appropriate notification duration when cancelling your lease. Normally, the notification equals the regard to payment, which has actually been jotted down in the contract. For example, if you pay rent monthly, you must offer one month's notice . Unless in a different way specified in the rental contract, the cancellation of the rent needs to be gotten by the landlord before the first day of the month.

One FULL month (e.g. suggesting you can not end the agreement on the 15th of April for the 16th of May. If you notify on the 15th of April, you can just end the contract by the 31st of May/1st of June).