The six-month rule: your deadline to challenge your rent in the Netherlands

Dutch law gives you six months from the day your tenancy begins to have the rent you agreed assessed by the Huurcommissie. That route is article 7:249 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek, and when the six months are up it closes permanently.

It is the single most consequential deadline in Dutch rent law for a new tenant, and it is missed constantly, because nothing tells you it is running.

What the six-month window actually gives you

Within the window you can ask the Huurcommissie to assess the starting rent — the rent your contract began with. If the points total says your home should cost less, the reduction applies back to the start date of the tenancy.

That is what makes this route different from every other one. A successful assessment inside the window does not just lower your rent going forward; it treats the rent as having been too high from the beginning.

So there is no advantage in waiting. Waiting does not make the outcome larger. It only risks the deadline.

How the window is counted

Six calendar months from the date your tenancy began. Not 180 days, not six times thirty. If your tenancy started on 15 March, the window runs to 15 September.

Two details that decide real cases:

Month ends clamp. A tenancy that began on 31 March runs to 30 September, because 31 September does not exist. The window never rolls into the following month.

The deadline date itself falls outside the window. A tenancy that began on 1 March is exactly six months old on 1 September, and "within six months" has already passed at that point. Treat the last day you can safely rely on as the day before. If you are close enough for this to matter, you are close enough that filing today rather than tomorrow is the whole decision.

The date that counts is the start date of the tenancy, the ingangsdatum, not the date you signed and not the date you moved your furniture in. Those are often three different dates and your contract will name the first one.

Worked examples

Tenancy began	Window runs to	On that date itself
15 March 2026	15 September 2026	already outside
31 March 2026	30 September 2026	already outside
1 July 2026	1 January 2027	already outside

What remains after the six months

The window closing does not mean your rent is lawful. It means one specific route is gone.

If your home falls under the points system and you pay more than the legal maximum, you can still propose a rent reduction under article 7:254 BW, and there is no deadline on that route at all.

The difference is what you get:

• 7:249, inside the window — the reduction applies back to the start of the tenancy.
• 7:254, at any time — the reduction applies going forward only. It is not retroactive. It takes effect on the first day of the second month after your proposal.

So a tenant who misses the six months does not lose the ability to pay a lawful rent. They lose the months already paid above it.

The 7:254 route also has a step before the Huurcommissie: you first send your landlord a written proposal to lower the rent. Only if they refuse or do not respond do you take it to the Huurcommissie. How to file a Huurcommissie case sets out that procedure and the deadlines for the other dispute types.

Check for free first

Before deciding anything, get the number.

The Huurcommissie publishes its own Huurprijscheck on huurcommissie.nl, in English since November 2024. It is free, it is the calculation the Huurcommissie itself would apply, and if it says your home is at or under the maximum then there is nothing to file and no deadline to worry about.

If a huurteam operates in your municipality, they will do the count with you at no cost, and they will do it with an inspection of the actual home rather than from a form. Het Juridisch Loket gives free advice on whether you have a case at all.

Filing costs € 25 in leges, paid in advance, and you get it back if the ruling goes your way. If your income is low enough you can be exempted from it entirely.

If you would rather have the calculation and the documents prepared than assemble them yourself, MijnHuising is a monthly subscription, € 49 for the first month and € 29 a month after that on the entry plan, and you still file the case yourself. The free routes above cost nothing and are the right answer for many tenants; free vs paid help compares them properly.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to challenge my starting rent in the Netherlands?

Six calendar months from the date your tenancy began, under article 7:249 BW. The request must reach the Huurcommissie inside that window. A reduction granted on a timely request applies back to the start of the tenancy.

Does the six months run from signing or from moving in?

From the start date of the tenancy, the ingangsdatum named in your contract. That is often a different date from the day you signed and from the day you moved in.

What happens if I miss the six-month deadline?

The starting-rent route closes permanently, but you can still ask for a reduction going forward under article 7:254 BW, and that route has no deadline. The difference is retroactivity: 7:249 applies back to the start of the tenancy, 7:254 takes effect on the first day of the second month after your written proposal.

Is the deadline six months or 180 days?

Six calendar months. A tenancy beginning 15 March runs to 15 September. Where the start day does not exist in the sixth month, it clamps to the last day of that month: 31 March runs to 30 September.

Can I still file on the six-month date itself?

Treat that date as outside the window. A tenancy that began on 1 March is exactly six months old on 1 September, which is no longer "within six months". If you are that close, file rather than test it.

Does a rent reduction under 7:254 pay me back what I overpaid?

No. It applies going forward only, from the first day of the second month after your proposal. Recovering months already paid is what the six-month route does, and only inside its window.

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 want the underlying limits first, is my rent too high covers the 2026 points bands and what they cap.

Sources

• Burgerlijk Wetboek book 7, articles 249 and 254
• Huurcommissie, huurcommissie.nl, Huurprijscheck and procedural information
• Uitvoeringswet huurprijzen woonruimte, article 7