No Grant, Just a Landlord's Urgent Duty
There is no government grant or fund available to tenants or landlords for emergency repairs. The legal framework in the Netherlands is very clear: the landlord is 100% responsible for carrying out and paying for emergency repairs (spoedreparaties) to their property. An emergency is a serious defect that poses an immediate risk to safety, health, or the basic habitability of the home (e.g., a major gas leak, a complete heating failure in winter, a burst pipe). The landlord's duty to fix such issues is immediate and is a fundamental part of the rental agreement. A lack of funds is not a valid excuse for a landlord to delay an emergency repair.
The Escalation Process for Unresponsive Landlords
While the duty is clear, a tenant's nightmare is having an emergency and an unresponsive landlord. In this situation, the tenant has a legally defined escalation path. 1. Contact the Landlord: The first step is always to try to contact the landlord via their provided 24/7 emergency number. 2. Formal Notice (Ingebrekestelling): If the landlord is unreachable or refuses to act, the tenant should (if possible) send an immediate written notice (email or text is fine in an emergency) stating the problem and that if no action is taken, the tenant will arrange the repair themselves. 3. Self-Help (Zelfhulp): If the landlord still fails to act, the tenant has the right to hire a qualified professional to perform the necessary emergency repair to mitigate the damage. The tenant would pay the invoice and then has the legal right to deduct the reasonable cost of the repair from their next rent payment.
The right to hire a professional and deduct the cost from the rent is a powerful tool, but it is also risky. The burden of proof is on the tenant to demonstrate that the situation was a genuine emergency, that the landlord was genuinely unresponsive, and that the cost of the repair was reasonable. Failure to prove these points could result in the tenant being in rent arrears. Therefore, this step should only be taken in a true emergency, and after documenting every attempt to contact the landlord. Seeking quick advice from the Juridisch Loket before taking this step is highly recommended.
