Huurcommissie in English: how to file a rent reduction case

The Huurcommissie is the body that settles disputes between tenants and landlords in the Netherlands. You do not need a lawyer, you do not go to court, and you file the request yourself. Its ruling binds both sides.

This guide is the English version of what we publish in Dutch. Nothing in it is specific to foreign tenants except the parts marked as such, because the procedure itself does not treat you differently.

You do not need to speak Dutch to use it

Three things worth knowing before anything else.

The Huurcommissie's own Huurprijscheck is available in English. Since November 2024 you can run the official points calculation on huurcommissie.nl in English and get your points total and your maximum legal rent. It is free, and it is the calculation the Huurcommissie itself would apply.

Filing does not require Dutch. The forms are Dutch, but nothing obliges you to argue in Dutch, and the procedure is designed for people representing themselves rather than for lawyers. Written evidence in English is ordinary. If you would rather not deal with the form alone, the free routes at the end of this article include services that will sit down with you.

The €25 you pay to file is refunded if you win. It is an advance, not a fee for a service. More on that below, including how to be exempted from it entirely.

What the Huurcommissie decides

It handles four kinds of dispute:

• the rent and the points total of your home
• service costs and the annual statement
• maintenance defects
• rent increases

Outside those four it has no authority. A dispute about your deposit, about ending the tenancy, or about co-tenancy is not something it can hear. Those go to the kantonrechter, the subdistrict court, or to Het Juridisch Loket.

Raise it with your landlord first

The Huurcommissie expects you to have put the dispute to your landlord in writing and given them a chance to respond, before you file.

Keep that correspondence. A dated email or a registered letter is the evidence that you tried.

For service costs this is a formal objection step: you state in writing which items you dispute and why, and you give your landlord three weeks to respond, explain or amend the statement. For defects, you report the defect to your landlord first, in writing — a letter, an email or an app message — so that what you reported and when is on the record. That is exactly what the Huurcommissie will want to check later.

Which deadline applies to your case

This is where most cases fail. The deadlines are set by statute and the Huurcommissie cannot depart from them.

Starting rent: six months. To have your initial rent assessed, the request must reach the Huurcommissie within six months of the date your tenancy began (article 7:249 BW). A reduction granted on a timely starting-rent assessment applies back to the start date, so waiting does not make the outcome larger — it only risks the deadline. The six-month rule covers exactly how that window is counted.

Rent increase: before the effective date. If you disagree with a proposed increase, you object to your landlord before the date the increase takes effect.

Service costs: 24 months after the accounting deadline. Your landlord must provide the annual statement within six months of the end of the calendar year. From the moment that period expires you have a further 24 months to file. For the year 2025 that means: statement before 1 July 2026, request possible until 30 June 2028.

Points-based rent reduction: no deadline. If your home falls under the points system and you pay more than the legal maximum, you can propose a reduction at any time. It is not retroactive. The reduction takes effect on the first day of the second month after your proposal.

What a case costs

A tenant pays € 25,00 in leges. That is the Huurcommissie's own word for it, and it is an advance rather than a fee for a service.

If you win, you get it back. If you are partly right, the advance is split and you usually get half back. Landlords pay more: € 500,00 in principle.

You do not need a lawyer. The procedure is built for parties representing themselves.

The Huurcommissie only takes your case into treatment once you have paid, so do not let that payment sit: the period within which it must rule only starts running after the payment deadline has passed.

If you withdraw your request after paying the advance, you do not get it back. There is one exception. If an inspection report has been sent and you withdraw within three weeks of the date that report was sent, you get 50 per cent of the advance back.

If you would rather have the documents prepared for you than assemble them yourself, MijnHuising is a monthly subscription: € 49 for the first month and € 29 a month after that on the entry plan. You still file the case yourself. That is one option among several and the free routes below cost nothing.

Can I be exempted from the €25?

Yes. If your income is low enough you can ask to be exempted from the leges. You make that request within four weeks of the acknowledgement of receipt of your request.

You supply evidence of income, in one of two forms. Either a final huurtoeslag decision showing your assessment income, no more than eighteen months old. Or a benefit statement no more than six months old, for bijstand, AOW with an AIO supplement, or Wajong.

This exemption is not widely known and is therefore rarely used. If €25 is a real obstacle for you, this is the route.

The steps you take yourself

Step 1. Identify which dispute you have. Rent and points, service costs, defects, or a rent increase. That decides which form you need and which deadline applies.

Step 2. Put it to your landlord. In writing, with a reasonable period to reply. Keep a copy.

Step 3. Assemble your file. The tenancy agreement, the rent breakdown or annual statement, the correspondence with your landlord, and for a points dispute the details of surface area, facilities, energy label and WOZ value.

Step 4. File the request. Digitally through the Huurcommissie's portal with DigiD, or on paper using the form from their site.

Step 5. Pay the leges. The case is only taken into treatment after payment.

Step 6. Respond to the defence. Your landlord gets the chance to reply. You may reply to that in turn.

Step 7. Inspection, if one is needed. In a dispute about points or defects an inspector often visits and surveys the home. You receive the report and may respond to it.

Step 8. Hearing or written handling. Simple cases are dealt with in writing, sometimes by a decision of the chair alone. If there is a hearing you are invited and may bring someone with you.

What if I do not have a DigiD?

Then you file on paper. The form is on the Huurcommissie's site. You complete it, sign it and send it in.

The paper route is a full route and not an exception. That matters particularly if you have only recently moved to the Netherlands and have not yet applied for a DigiD.

Can someone else do this for me?

The applicant is always the tenant. A gemachtigde, an authorised representative, may act on your behalf, but the authorisation must be written and signed, must name the specific case, and you send it in yourself.

Without a valid authorisation the representative is not recognised and correspondence goes directly to you. You always remain entitled to act yourself.

The Huurcommissie may refuse a representative who is not a lawyer or a bailiff, stating its reasons. Lawyers and bailiffs need no authorisation form.

How long does a case take?

The statute gives the Huurcommissie four months, counted from the expiry of the period for paying the leges advance (article 37 Uitvoeringswet huurprijzen woonruimte).

In practice the throughput time varies. The Huurcommissie reports on it in its own annual report. In 2025 it met that four-month statutory period in 64 per cent of all cases. By type of dispute, against its own target:

Type of dispute (2025)	Within four months	Own target
Rent increase	97 per cent	more than 90 per cent
Points	59 per cent	more than 70 per cent
Service costs	55 per cent	more than 70 per cent
Defects	51 per cent	more than 70 per cent

The Huurcommissie itself names delays in carrying out inspections as the cause. These are its figures for 2025, not a prediction about your case: MijnHuising does not make that prediction.

Since 1 July 2026 the Huurcommissie can also temporarily suspend the handling period when additional documents are needed, from a party or from a third party. The period resumes as soon as the requested document arrives or the period set for it passes unused.

What is in your own hands: a complete file at the moment you submit, and replying promptly to what the Huurcommissie sends you.

What happens after the ruling

The ruling binds both parties. If you or your landlord disagrees, that party can go to the kantonrechter within eight weeks of it being sent (article 7:262 BW).

That point is often missed: if a party goes to the subdistrict court in time, the Huurcommissie's ruling lapses in its entirety and the judge decides the dispute afresh.

If your case was settled by a decision of the chair, without a hearing, there is an intermediate step. You can lodge verzet against it, after which the case is heard by a full committee. The period for that is six weeks.

What you can use for free

The Huurcommissie has its own Huurprijscheck on huurcommissie.nl, in English. It is free and gives you your home's points total. The full procesreglement and the beleidsboeken are there too, and they set out exactly how it assesses a case.

Many municipalities have a huurteam that helps tenants at no cost. In Amsterdam that is !WOON. Het Juridisch Loket gives free legal advice on rent law, including on matters the Huurcommissie does not cover.

Use these routes. They cost you nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I file a Huurcommissie case in English?

The forms are in Dutch, but you do not need a lawyer and nothing requires you to argue in Dutch. The Huurprijscheck itself is available in English. If the form is the obstacle, a municipal huurteam or Het Juridisch Loket will help you with it at no cost.

How much does it cost to go to the Huurcommissie?

A tenant pays €25 in advance. You get it back if you win, and usually half of it back if you are partly right. If your income is low enough you can ask to be exempted altogether, within four weeks of the acknowledgement of your request. A landlord pays €500 in principle.

Do I need a DigiD to file?

No. DigiD is the digital route. You can also file on paper using the form from the Huurcommissie's site, which is a full route rather than an exception, and matters if you have recently arrived and have no DigiD yet.

How long does a Huurcommissie case take?

The statute allows four months from the expiry of the leges payment period. In 2025 the Huurcommissie met that in 64 per cent of cases across all types, and it publishes those figures itself. Since 1 July 2026 it can also suspend the period while it waits for additional documents.

Is the ruling final?

It binds both parties, but either can take the dispute to the kantonrechter within eight weeks of the ruling being sent, and if they do the ruling lapses entirely and the judge decides afresh. A decision by the chair alone can first be challenged by verzet, within six weeks.

Can someone file on my behalf?

The applicant is always you. A representative may act for you with a written, signed authorisation naming the specific case, which you send in yourself. Without it, the representative is not recognised and correspondence comes to you.

What MijnHuising does

MijnHuising brings the information about your home together in one place: the points total under the woningwaarderingsstelsel, the maximum legal rent that goes with it, and the file you submit to the Huurcommissie.

What you do with that is up to you. The case stays in your name. You file it yourself.

The free check takes two minutes. If you are not yet sure whether you have a case, is my rent too high covers the 2026 limits, and free vs paid help compares every route including the free ones.

Sources

• Huurcommissie, procesreglement and beleidsboeken
• Huurcommissie, Jaarverslag 2025, published 20 May 2026, table "Afhandeling van zaken binnen de wettelijke Uhw-termijn van 4 maanden"
• Huurcommissie, procesreglement 1.4 (gemachtigde) and 1.8 (suspension of the handling period), per 1 July 2026
• Huurcommissie, Beleidsboek Servicekosten chapter 6, procedural rules
• Rijksoverheid, rijksoverheid.nl
• Uitvoeringswet huurprijzen woonruimte, articles 7 and 37
• Burgerlijk Wetboek book 7, articles 249, 254, 262