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LUNTERO
Find your way home in the Netherlands with 20,000+ rental listings at your fingertips!
© 2025 Luntero. All rights reserved.
Luntero
This clause allows for annual rent increases in free-market contracts, typically tied to inflation, but its wording and application are subject to strict legal scrutiny and temporary government caps.
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A short-stay visa that allows travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days, which is entirely unsuitable for long-term renting.
A citizen of a European Union member state, who enjoys the right to freedom of movement and work within the Netherlands.
An internationally recognized form of certification that validates the authenticity of a public document for use in another country.
A legally valid translation of an official document performed by a translator who has been officially sworn in by a Dutch court.
The process of converting official documents from a foreign language into Dutch or English to make them understandable and acceptable for official procedures.
A person's record of managing debt and credit in a country other than the Netherlands, which is often difficult or impossible to verify for landlords.
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In the free-market rental sector (vrije sector) of the Netherlands, your rent is not fixed for eternity. The mechanism for annual rent increases is governed by the indexeringsclausule (rent indexation clause) in your rental agreement. This clause links the rent to inflation, allowing the landlord to adjust it periodically to maintain its real value. Unlike the regulated sector where the government dictates the maximum increase, the free market relies on the terms of the contract. However, a series of court rulings and recent legislation have turned these seemingly straightforward clauses into a legal battleground.
The most common type of indexation clause stipulates that the rent will be increased annually by a percentage equal to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), as published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This figure reflects the average inflation rate. Many contracts, however, go a step further and include a surcharge, using a formula like 'CPI + X%', where X is a fixed percentage, often 1% or 2%. For years, this practice was widely accepted as a standard way for landlords to ensure a return above inflation. This acceptance has recently crumbled under legal challenges.
Recent court judgments, heavily influenced by European consumer protection directives, have taken a much more critical view of these 'CPI + X%' clauses. The reasoning is that such a clause creates an imbalance, guaranteeing the landlord a rent increase that always outpaces inflation, which can be deemed an 'unfair contract term' when the tenant is a private consumer. If a judge declares an indexation clause to be unfair, it is rendered void from the beginning. This has dramatic consequences: it means that every rent increase the landlord ever applied based on that clause was legally invalid. In such cases, tenants have successfully sued to reclaim all the overpaid rent, sometimes amounting to thousands of euros over several years.
To protect tenants from the double impact of high inflation and controversial indexation clauses, the Dutch government has intervened. A temporary law, currently in effect until May 1, 2029, puts a cap on free-market rent increases. Each year, the maximum allowed increase is the lower of two figures: (A) the contractually agreed percentage (e.g., CPI + 1%) or (B) a government-set cap (e.g., average wage development + 1%). This provides a crucial safety net, ensuring that even if a contract allows for a high increase, the legally permitted amount is capped.