Basically in the title. I moved out with effect on 17/7/2023 after returning the keys to the landlord. She is refusing the refund of my deposit as she stated that the mattress has a stain under the matress protector. I only discovered of the stain when I moved in and as such retained the protector but didn’t communicate this as I thought she was aware of this. Do I have any recourse if she refuses repaying my deposit? Also you can buy a whole bed from ikea for way less than the deposit due, should such claw backs contain a element of reasonability.
Update 24/7/23: Thanks for all the assistance. The landlord refunded my deposit this afternoon in full.
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You’re somewhat in luck, as the Good Landlordship Act took effect on July 1st that also added more protection for tenants with regard to the deposit.
As of July 1st article 261b in Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, art. 7:261b BW) states that a landlord must repay the deposit within 14 days after the agreement ends or up until 30 days if proven damage occurred.
Furthermore, the landlord has to provide a substantiation in writing of the damage (art. 7:261b(4) BW) if the damage is attributable to the tenant.
But before you are accountable for the damage, it needs to be clear if the landlord carries the burden the stain wasn’t already present when you moved in or if you carry the burden of proof the stain was present.
To determine that, art. 7:224(2) BW is of importance and in summary states that a tenant is required to deliver the rented items (the house and moveable items like the mattress) in accordance to a list of the state of the items that was drawn up between the landlord and tenant when the rental agreement commenced. If no list was drawn up when the rent commenced, the tenant is assumed to have delivered the items in the same way as they were delivered initially, unless the landlord proofs otherwise.
So art. 7:224(2) BW introduces an assumption of proof in your benefit, if the landlord did not supply a list that is detailed enough with regard to the state the house and other items were in when you started renting. As the assumption is in your benefit, the landlord carries the burden of proof the stain wasn’t there initially.
A) What amount of money does the deposit concern approximately? That doesn’t need to be precise, but an indication is relevant considering the stated damage.
B) Did you and the landlord draw up a list (can also include photos) that describes the state of the property and items in a fairly detailed way? Just ‘good’ or ‘in order’ are not detailed enough. A summary of items without a description of the state they were in also isn’t enough.
C) Did you and the landlord inspect the house twice before you left?
D) Did the landlord use the list describing the state of the house and items under (B) during the first inspection?
E) Did you and the landlord sign off on a pre-inspection report?
F) Were you allowed to make repairs yourself?
G) Did the landlord use the list describing the state of the house and items under (B) during the second and last inspection?
H) Did you and the landlord sign off on a final inspection report?
I) Did you pay for utilities and service costs? If so, were you in debt with the landlord?
J) Did you and the landlord write down the utilities meter settings on the final inspection report?
K) Do you want me to help you write a e-mail or letter you can send to the landlord? If so, e-mail or letter? Dutch or English?
My assumption is that the landlord will be more impressed by a letter in Dutch as it’s immediately clear you didn’t write it. The downside is that you need to translate it in order to understand what you’re sending. If the landlord usually responds to e-mail, there is no point in sending a letter.
Take note that I will post the letter in public on this forum though. No DMs.
Also be aware that it’s impossible to oversee all relevant facts on a forum like this even if you answer the questions and in part because of that, any risk associated with acting upon what I mention stays with you. This includes sending the e-mail or letter. You might consider obtaining advise if you think that is appropriate, for example by contacting the Juridisch Loket if your income is low, an organization like !WOON if you live in the area they advice in or a municipal subsidized ‘huurteam’.
Glad to hear I am in luck and thank you for sharing the legislative guidance. Please refer to below responses to the queries above: a) Exactly 800 Euros, b) No such list was prepared. Only a list of items was provided in the contract but these did not make reference to the condition. c) No such inspection was performed. d) Nope, no such list to refer back to. e) No such report was communicated to me, or received in any form. f) All repairs were made by the landlord, g) Nope, no such list existed. h) No such report was signed off, i) G/W/E was included in the rent and paid for by the landlord. j) N/A refer to i, k) Will you please prepare an e-mail and I agree with your point. Dutch would be best. Fortunately I can read it ;)
I understand that this will be posted and really appreciate your effort and support to a random stranger.
I also fully comprehend the risks and understand this is a discussion and note this is not legal advise in any form.
Will you please prepare an e-mail and I agree with your point. Dutch would be best.
Coming up. But there’s one last point that might be of importance now that you answered the questions. This could save you a high amount of money depending on the circumstances. I’m not saying you can, but it might be the case.
The Dutch government tries to dissuade landlords from offering what is called ‘all-inclusive’ or ‘all-in’ rental agreements. The reason is that a tenant should be able to assess the rental price (huurprijs or ‘kale huur’). But if the tenant pays one price (prijs) for both the use of the house and utilities without knowing what the rental price is, the tenant cannot check if the rental price is adequate.
An all-in agreement is not easily assumed however. It should be absolutely unclear to the tenant what the rental price is. For example, if your contract states:
- huurprijs/rental price: €600
- voorschot servicekosten/advance payment service costs: €200
… this isn’t considered an all-in contract. The rental price is mentioned in the contract (€600) even if you pay a monthly total by bank transfer of €800.
L) Could you try to determine if your contract is an actual all-in contract?
M) About when did you start renting? Month and year are enough.
N) Were you renting an independent house? Or a room with shared essential facilities?
O) Were you renting for indefinite time (onbepaalde tijd) or for a predetermined period (bepaalde tijd). A predetermined period contract contains an end date after which you should move out of the house.
P) If a predetermined time: what was the maximum time you were allowed to rent in total?
Thanks for the follow-up. I have read about those all inclusive contracts - which is quite odd as the maximal “kale huur” is about half my actual monthly rent.
L) I have read through the contract, is not truly all inclusive, it states “de huurprijs 700, het voorschot op de vergoeding voor de overige zaken en diensten gelevered worden in verband met de bewoning van het gehuurde: 100”. So very similar to your example.
M) 29 January 2022.
N) Room with shared facilities.
O) Predetermined period, ending 18/7/2023.
P) Slightly less than 18 months in total (29-01-2022 till 18-07-2023). No options included for extension.
Room with shared facilities.
Then my estimate is that you probably overpaid. The rental agreement was price regulated, as you rented a room with shared facilities. But even if it was an independent house, you started renting in 2022 and the rental price of €700 did not exceed the so called liberation threshold in 2022.
Luckily, you can proceed to the Rent Tribunal up until six months after a temporary contract of two years or less ends and request the Rent Tribunal to assess the initial rental price. The problem: the Rent Tribunal requires access to the house and you stopped living there. The moderator of this community I_look_good_in_black helps out tenants with lowering the rental price by advising them about a procedure at the Rent Tribunal. You should seriously consider taking that step, but it might be you need proof like photos of the house if you cannot access it anymore. Or make an appointment with the new tenant so the Rent Tribunal can access the house if they need to.
Furthermore (sorry for all the questions)
Q) Did you receive a utilities overview before July 1st?
Landlords must provide tenants with an overview every year before July 1st from which becomes clear why you needed to pay €100 every month. If you never received such an overview, chances are the landlord is making an illegal profit from that. And you can also start a separate procedure at the Rent Tribunal for that as well.
I can incorporate both additional points in the letter, further pointing out to the landlord you know your rights beside art. 7:261b BW with regard to the deposit. It might be that the landlord will pay you back sooner, but it might also mean the landlord resists even harder. That’s difficult to predict.
R) Do you want me to focus in the letter on just the deposit or both the deposit and the potential Rent Tribunal procedure?
(And yes, these are probably all the questions. But the more customized the letter is, the more convincing).
Thanks for the feedback on overpaying. I actually see the landlord is advertising the property at 925 p.m. now (would have shared a link, but I’m not sure if this is allowed on this community). I do indeed have photos of the property so I will certainly consider the possibility of creating a case with the rent tribunal. Also it may be easy to involve the new tenant given that he/she may be interested in a reduced rent.
Don’t apologize for all the questions, you are really a lifesaver and also these questions really help me think and learn how to approach my landlord at my current place.
Q) No I have not received such a document.
Interesting that this is a requirement, and a separate procedure exists for this.
R) Will you kindly incorporate the rent tribunal procedure - I understand the risks and also consider (based on your questions) that additional follow-through may be justified else she will continue this without a fear in the world going forward.
Don’t apologize for all the questions, your support have exceeded all expectations.
Here you go. Dates are written in Dutch as:
29 januari 2022
not as
Januari 29, 2022
As mentioned, send this e-mail at your own risk. You carry the burden of proof the e-mail was received by the landlord if the landlord denies that. If you received e-mails recently, use the same e-mail address as it’s not convincing the landlord did not receive this e-mail. The first line is the subject of the e-mail, so remove the word ‘Betreft:’ and copy/paste the rest of the line after ‘Betreft:’ in the subject line of your e-mail client.
I’ve added a paragraph in which you describe you might also request the municipality to enforce the Good Landlordship Act (Wet goed verhuurderschap or Wgv). The reason is that your landlord should have provided you with a service costs overview before July 1st. Whether the municipality will enforce if you request them to is up to the municipality. One can argue the Good Landlordship Act took effect on July 1st and so doesn’t apply, but one can also argue the cost overview should have been provided before July 1st, so the landlord is breaching the Good Landlordship Act as of July 1st.
I hope you’ll succeed in at least obtaining your deposit. If the landlord looses the Rent Tribunal procedure, you might get summoned to court, so make sure you are registered correctly at the municipality. A court bailiff will check those address details. If you are summoned you can claim the deposit as well in a ‘reconventional’ claim.
Good luck and it would be nice if you post a new update OP when things progress. But that’s up to you of course.
Betreft: waarborgsom huurwoning <street name and house number of the rental house>, overzicht servicekosten en toetsing aanvangshuurprijs
Geachte <choose either heer or mevrouw> heer mevrouw <last name of your landlord>,
Van 29 januari 2022 tot en met 18 juli 2023 heb ik woonruimte van u gehuurd, gelegen aan het adres <street name and house number of the rental house> te <city where the rental house is located>.
Ik heb op <date on which you paid the deposit> een waarborgsom ter hoogte van €800 aan u betaald op uw bankrekeningnummer <IBAN of the landlord>.
U dient daarom op grond van art. 7:261b BW de waarborgsom te restitueren binnen 14 dagen nadat de huurovereenkomst is geëindigd. Ik maak u erop attent dat u na het verstrijken van deze termijn van rechtswege in verzuim verkeert. Na het intreden van verzuim bent u over het bedrag van €800 wettelijke rente verschuldigd. De wettelijke rente bedraagt 6% sinds 1 juli 2023 (Stb. 2023, 235).
U stelde op <date when the landlord told you that you were liable for the damage to the mattress> dat u de waarborgsom niet hoeft te voldoen omdat de matras door mij beschadigd zou zijn. Ik betwist deze stelling.
Bij aanvang van de huurovereenkomst is er in het geheel geen beschrijving van het verhuurde opgemaakt waaruit de staat van o.a. het matras blijkt zoals ik deze heb ontvangen. Uit art. 7:224 lid 2 BW volgt daarom dat wordt verondersteld dat het gehuurde door mij in de staat is ontvangen zoals deze was bij het einde van de huurovereenkomst. Dat betekent dat u mij de door u gestelde schade dus niet kunt toerekenen.
Maar daarnaast heeft u mij niet in de gelegenheid gesteld om eventuele beschadigingen zelf te verhelpen. Er zijn namelijk bij het einde van de huurovereenkomst in het geheel geen gezamenlijke inspecties geweest van het gehuurde. Dat wil zeggen: geen pre-inspectie en ook geen eindinspectie. Daarmee heeft u uw recht op een schadevergoeding verwerkt, zelfs al zou ik aansprakelijk zijn.
Maar u voldoet ook niet aan het vereiste in art. 7:261b lid 3 en 4 BW, want u dient de schade objectief te onderbouwen door een volledige kostenspecificatie te verstrekken waaruit de aantoonbaar gemaakte kosten strekkende tot het herstel van de schade volgt. Volledigheidshalve merk ik op dat art. 7:261b BW met de inwerkingtreding van de Wet goed verhuurderschap (Wgv) van toepassing is op bestaande rechtsbetrekkingen, omdat de Wgv niet voorziet in overgangsrecht dat van toepassing is op art. 7:261b BW.
Verder merk ik op dat u mij in 2022 en 2033 geen kostenoverzicht heeft verstrekt van de door mij verschuldigde servicekosten. U bent op grond van art. 7:259 lid 2 BW verplicht om een huurder jaarlijks voor 1 juli een kostenoverzicht te verstrekken. Ik ontvang daarom graag alsnog binnen drie weken na de verzenddatum van deze e-mail de kostenoverzichten die u had moeten verstrekken en inzage in de onderliggende boeken en andere bescheiden of van afschriften daarvan op grond van art. 7:259 lid 4 BW.
Indien u niet aan deze verzoeken voldoet, overweeg ik om een procedure te starten bij de huurcommissie. De huurcommissie zal u in dat geval ook vragen om de kostenoverzichten en onderliggende documentatie. Ik wijs u erop dat u voor elk verzoek €300 aan leges dient te betalen aan de Staat indien de huurcommissie mij in het gelijk stelt.
Ik overweeg eveneens om de huurcommissie te verzoeken de aanvangshuurprijs te laten vaststellen op grond van art. 7:249 lid 2 BW. Indien de huurcommissie tot de conclusie komt dat de huurprijs hoger lag dan de maximale huurprijsgrens op grond van het woningwaarderingsstelsel, dient u de teveel ontvangen huurprijs over de gehele huurperiode aan mij te vergoeden omdat u dat bedrag in dat geval onverschuldigd heeft ontvangen.
Tot slot overweeg ik om een handhavingsverzoek te versturen naar de gemeente, nu op 1 juli is gebleken dat u de servicekosten anders dan in overeenstemming met art. 7:259 BW in rekening heeft gebracht. Indien de gemeente oordeelt dat u in overtreding bent van art. 2 lid 2 aanhef en onder f Wgv, is de gemeente bevoegd om u een bestuurlijke boete op te leggen van maximaal de vierde categorie zoals staat beschreven in art. 23 Sr (thans €22.500).
Mocht u de waarborgsom van €800 niet binnen 14 dagen na eindigen van de huurovereenkomst aan mij restitueren, dan overweeg ik u in rechte te betrekken. De wettelijke rente, buitengerechtelijke incassokosten, het verschuldigde griffierecht en kosten die samenhangen met de betekening van de dagvaarding zullen in dat geval ook op u worden verhaald.
Ik hoop uiteraard dat het niet zover hoeft te komen. Graag ontvang ik de waarborgsom binnen de genoemde 14 dagen op mijn bankrekeningnummer <your IBAN> t.n.v. <name associated with your IBAN>.
Hoogachtend,
<your e-mail address>
Thank you so much for the email and instructions. I have shared this this morning. I will off course update the community on any changes.
Just as an outsider I wanted to say this while thread is excellent!
All renters/busters should read through to be better informed, quality stuff!